if LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. J 



. |jOggtigW |ljo. 



| UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, j 



MUNROE'S 



Philosophy of Cure 



Originated at Chelsea, Mass., in the 
year 1856. 




Ts 



CAMBRIDGE : .4 
PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR. 

1873. 



3& J MP 1 

■ Ml 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1873, by 

WILLIAM HENRY MUNROE, 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



CAMBRIDGE: 
PRESS OF JOHN WILSON AND SON. 



TO MY PATIENTS. 



I have taken the liberty of dedicating this 
work to all my patients, past and present, 
knowing, as I do, that none can understand 
so well and appreciate the practice as those 
to whom it has been applied You will find, 
on perusal of this narrative, that I have given 
an account of works ; not theories, but actual, 
well-substantiated facts. In parting, permit 
me to ask one favor, which is, be as true to 
the practice as I have been: place it first, not 
last It is a unit, perfect, requiring no other 
aid. Wishing you all health and happiness 
here, and for the hereafter that peace which 
passeth understanding, 

I am respectfully and truly yours, 

William Henry Munboe. 



PREFACE, 



I am induced to prepare this little volume 
for publication, in accordance with the oft- 
repeated desire of my patients, that I may- 
have a treatise explanatory of my practice, 
to hand to them or others, desiring informa- 
tion as to its effects and mode of application. 
It shall be my endeavor to give a concise 
narrative of the practice, as [ have had oppor- 
tunity of applying it in various diseases, from 
its first conception to the present time, a 
period of nearly eighteen years. 

If this work will enable its readers to under- 
stand and apply its teachings, so as to afford 
relief in time of need, my labors will not 
have been in vain. 

w. H. M. 
Boston, 19 Milford Street, 
April 20th, 1873. 



MUNROE'S PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 



In the month of May, 1854, I was attacked 
with violent inflammation of the eyes. The 
right eye had been blind from childhood : 
the left now became blind also, on the second 
day of this attack, and continued so for 
twenty-three months. I suffered great pain 
in both eyes, particularly over the right eye 
and temple. I had used all the ordinary 
modes of treatment for ophthalmia which had 
terminated in cataract, but none proved to be 
of any benefit. About this time, at the end 
of twenty-three months from the beginning of 
the attack, an eminent oculist of this city was 
called in, who pronounced me hopelessly 
blind. This opinion must be fresh in that 
gentleman's memory. I have seen him since, 
with both eyes restored to useful vision. Had 



8 MUNROE'S PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 

I rested satisfied with his opinion, I should 
now be either blind or dead. As soon as he 
left my house I commenced the study of my 
own case, and found that, instead of assisting 
Nature to effect her work of recuperation, I 
had used agencies to thwart and preclude 
the possibility of her doing so. I had used 
caustic in solution, sulphate of zinc, the cam- 
phor lotion, also laudanum, and other nar- 
cotics, all of which had so astringed the 
nerves that my eyes w r ere like a piece of scar- 
let cloth in appearance, and intolerant, though 
blind, of the least ray of light. I spent four- 
teen months of the twenty-three in perfect 
torture. The pains would commence regu- 
larly about three or four p.m., and continue 
until daybreak of the following morning. I 
would sit up in bed, with my right elbow 
resting on my right knee, cram my pockets 
handkerchief into my mouth, and bite it hard, 
to keep from exclaiming aloud, when the 
spasms would come on. These were usually 
worse from ten p.m. to two or three a.m. This 
state of suffering abated about the fourteenth 



MUNROE'S PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 9 

month. I had become much emaciated and 
exceedingly nervous, and was sensitive to 
cold in the summer air, using winter wraps 
in July and August. The evening air would 
make me shiver like a person with ague. 

I have been particular in narrating my case, 
in order that you may escape my experience 
by avoiding the means I used to bring me 
into this miserable plight. I have seen, since 
my restoration to vision, five similar cases, all 
made so — that is, the trouble increased and 
sealed upon them — by drugging the eyes and 
system. If treated properly in the first place, 
they never would have reached the pitiable 
state in which I found them. Four of these 
five I have cured in my way of treatment. 
These eyes were all drug-ruined, and never, 
unaided, could have recovered from the ef- 
fects of such treatment. 

I said, I commenced the study of my own 
case. I reviewed our mechanical structure 
for myself, came to my own conclusions, and 
then commenced the treatment of myself; 
employing no other agent than was possessed 



10 MUNROE'S PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 

in my own person, using the two principles 
of cure that belong to every one. 

The first conception of my practice was 
necessarily imperfectly applied ; but, notwith- 
standing, by persistence, working almost in- 
cessantly, I was repaid by restoring vision to 
my left eye in six days' time. By the eighth 
day I was out of my room, and able to guide 
myself. I now soon began my practice on 
others, though for years my eyes were quite 
intolerant of light, and gave me much pain, 
and the improvement in vision was slow. It 
was four or five years before I began to treat, 
in earnest, the right eye, the one that had 
been blind from childhood, and it was fully 
three years more before vision came to it. 
Now, however, nearly eighteen years from 
my first conception of the practice, I feel fully 
repaid for all the labor I have bestowed on 
both eyes, for they do me good service ; being 
able to use them quite freely, and with a 
great degree of comfort, both by daylight and 
gas-light. 

In the first years of this mode of treating 



MUNRQ&S PHILOSOPHY OF CURE, 11 

disease, I had many obstacles to contend 
with. It was new, visionary, Utopian ; it was 
absolute quackery ; and, in fact, it was only 
a theory, untried, and yet to be proved. 
However, I cared not for what people said : 
I felt that I was right, and held on in my 
way ; and now I call my theory that was, a 
sound, unalterable, unchangeable philosophy, 
that will endure to the end of time. 

The philosophy of the practice is based on 
the mechanical structure of the human sys- 
tem, its faculties of movement, and the rela- 
tion that one part holds to another ; also, on 
antagonism, which is the principle of strength. 
You perceive that it is purely mechanical, 
and free from all the isms of the age. 

The muscles are not the motor-power, but 
placed so as to give connection to the two 
nervous systems, the motor and sensitive, 
while performing the various movements 
which the body, in its normal state, is capa- 
ble of executing. The sensitive nervous sys- 
tem is so arranged in its construction as to 
yield and respond, when in a healthy state, 



12 MUNROE'S PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 

to all the movements of the motor nerves. 
The navel is the nervous centre, and the two 
extremities should move in opposite directions 
from that centre, with perfect ease and har- 
mony. We possess in our organization one 
destroying agent, namely, contraction of the 
sensitive nerves, which always accompanies 
fatigue, and disease of every type and name; 
opposed to which we have two remedial 
ones, the extensor and transverse or rotary 
movements of these nerves. I therefore make 
the nerves of sensation my agents of cure. 
These form a' perfect net-work of fibres, cov- 
ering the human form from head to foot, and 
from the surface-skin to the skin that lines 
the bones. The three capacities of move- 
ment they possess, which have been referred 
to, I call functional action. These nerves are, 
in the normal state, perfectly harmonious in 
action, giving their support, mechanically, to 
all other parts of the system, internal as well 
as external. The mode of treatment is by 
reversion ; adjusting each set of nerves, and 
restoring the normal relation lost by disease 
or derangement. 



MUNRO&S PHILOSOPHY OF CURE 18 

We can only make three movements: we 
contract or shut the hand, open and extend it, 
and rotate it ; we bow the head, raise it, and 
rotate it from side to side. The whole sys- 
tem is constructed on this principle : therefore 
each part must act in mechanical harmony. 
The true mechanical relations of these three 
principles of movement preserved, the system 
will wear long and well. 

I have employed the sensitive nervous 
system as a curative means nearly eighteen 
years, during which time it has not failed to 
prove its direct relation tQ the whole system ; 
so that internal affections may and have been 
successfully treated. Many of you, my pa- 
tients, remember that you wondered how the 
treatment was to reach your case, and how 
surprised and delighted you were, as its 
workings were unfolded. In reply to your 
inquiries as to what class of diseases it was 
particularly adapted, I have-said, " It is good 
for whatever ails you," and so it will prove, 
if faithfully tested. 

Patients frequently come to me, who seem 



14 MUNROES PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 

to think that, unless a cure is effected within 
a certain time, it cannot be done at all, or 
who wish me to name a specified time within 
which they can be cured. The time, with a 
certain amount of skilful treatment, is de- 
pendent entirely upon the condition of the 
patient, and the recuperative power of the 
system. Therefore it is impossible to name 
a specified time with much certainty, in 
chronic cases more especially ; and it is a 
question I do not like to have asked, for in 
answering it as well as I could, I have some- 
times disappointed the patient; and, again, 
the result has exceeded my most sanguine 
expectations. There are many things to be 
considered, which are not always apparent 
on the first examination. The full effect of 
former treatment received ; the influences, 
hereditary and otherwise, that have been 
brought to bear on the condition of the pa- 
tient ; the habits of life, — all these are not 
known to me, and have their influence on 
the readiness of the system to yield to treat- 
ment. 



MUNRO&S PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 15 

The question to be considered, is, Can the 
cure be effected? That is more easily an- 
swered. If there is any recuperative power 
in the system, with diligence on my part, and 
patient perseverance on the part of the one to 
be cured, relief will surely come. It cannot 
fail to come, for the treatment is based on the 
mechanical relations of the human structure, 
and every application of it tends to restore 
the harmony of those relations. 

The class of diseases brought to me is al- 
most always of the hardest type, — chronic 
forms, that have been made so by treatment 
received, and after years and a great deal 
of money have been spent in the effort 
for restoration. And yet, if a marvellous 
change is not effected by me in a short time, 
the patient, or his friends, become disgusted, 
and think that nothing can be done, or that it 
will take too long. They do not realize the 
amount of work that often has to be done 
towards breaking up the old condition, to 
render the system susceptible to treatment, 
or rather to render it such that the effect of 



16 MUNROE'S PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 

the treatment is apparent to the patient. If 
I can accomplish in months, or years even, 
what cannot be accomplished at all in other 
practices, why should the time be considered 
long, or patients give up in discouragement ? 
If by this practice I can, as I have often 
done, reach cases where the disease is of the 
hardest chronic type, cases given up in other 
practices, how like mere play is it when 
taken in its beginnings, in its simple forms! 
Then the practice shines ; but it is the hard, 
plodding cases, which it is so often my for- 
tune to deal with, that are so seldom fully 
appreciated. 

Many of you, my patients, are using the 
practice in your families, administering to 
your friends ; and its shadow is spreading 
over this and other continents, but its bodily 
presence is comparatively little known. It 
bears no real resemblance to any other mode 
of cure, either in principle or practice ; there- 
fore you will not wonder that I have so jeal- 
ously refused to have it misunderstood and 
beclouded by others. Stand firmly by its 



MUNROES PHILOSOPHY OF CURE, 17 

principles and its name, — the Nervous Adjust* 
ment Cure, — and endeavor to know how to 
apply it in diseases incident to yourselves and 
friends. You will thus prevent the recurrence 
of the malady from which you have relieved 
them, and render the system less susceptible 
of contracting others. 

In applying the practice, I have found it 
best to avoid all drugs. Their effect on the 
system is so apparent to me that I have fre- 
quently surprised patients by telling them 
just what medicines they have been using. 
The general effect of all drugs is destructive to 
the nervous system : temporary relief may be 
obtained, but it is at an expense that sooner 
or later will make itself felt. Narcotics or 
anodynes are especially injurious : they stul- 
tify, stupefy; blunting sensibility, searing and 
drying the tissues and membranes; preparing 
thereby for infirmity and debility. Let us 
look at the definition of narcotic : " A medi- 
cine which in medicinal doses allays morbid 
sensibility, relieves pain, and produces sleep ; 
but which in poisonous (or, in other words, 

2 



18 MUNROE'S PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 

larger) doses, produces stupor, coma, convul- 
sions ; and, when given in sufficient quantity, 
causes death." This is the definition found 
in Webster. The effect of the smaller doses 
in allaying morbid sensibility, relieving pain, 
and causing sleep, is accomplished by deaden- 
ing the action of the sensitive nerves in their 
already deranged state ; which seals that de- 
rangement upon them. What the nerves 
want is not less action, but healthy action. 
Disentangle those fibres that are knit together, 
disturbing circulation, which is impeded in its 
flow, causing suffusion in some parts, with a 
lack in others, and the cause of the nervous 
irritation will be removed, nervous harmony 
will be restored, the blood will flow freely and 
equally, and sleep and relief from pain will 
come as if by magic. Present relief is too 
often the only thing considered: the after effect 
of these doses is not thought of. The partial 
death, the paralysis that too often comes from 
repeated, and not unfrequently from single 
doses, is not considered, and, when it does 
come, is looked upon as inevitable. The 



MUNROE'S PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 19 

increasing tendency to paralysis in the present 
age, among both young and old, with chil- 
dren even, is an alarming fact that it would 
be well for us all to consider, and the causes 
of which are very evident to me. 

The cold, wet blanket of professional preju- 
dice and arrogance has been thrown over me 
and my practice for years ; and the time has 
come when its merits, from good and reliable 
data, should be presented to the public, and 
let that tribunal decide the question. The 
more rough handling the practice gets, the 
brighter it will shine ; like oil thrown upon 
water, it will float on the surface. In sound 
and unchangeable principles the practice will 
stand all tests of investigation by any man, 
or body of men, let their attainments be ever 
so high. 

The practice is frequently misrepresented, 
by not giving its proper name, which explains 
it } — the Nervous Adjustment Cure. I invaria- 
bly put down all misnomers of it, such as 
rubbing, pinching, and manipulation. It is 
neither the one, nor any of these. Many are 



20 MUN ROE'S PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 

deterred from having the benefit of the prac- 
tice from want of proper explanation. I 
failed to be called to a case of neuralgia, of 
which the patient died, by the assumption of 
a perfect knowledge of my practice by the 
attending physician, who said, when spoken 
to of me and my practice, that he knew all 
about it ; that I only rubbed the muscles on 
the bones, and that would never do for 
her. I cured the brother-in-law of the lady re- 
ferred to of a fistula, and he recommended his 
brother to have me see his wife, when this 
very sage speech was made. I have since 
seen the physician alluded to, in the house of 
a sufferer, and the skill I there saw displayed 
I should be loath to assume. I have frequently 
been called in at the last moment, when all 
else had been tried and failed, and have re- 
ceived as much gratitude for relief afforded 
as when I have recovered and restored a 
patient of my own to health. 

I shall now give a few important cures 
effected during the first five years of my prac- 
tice, whilst bearing about in my own person 



MUNROE'S PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 21 

sufficient pain to call for a large share of en- 
durance. I had, besides, to bear the lot of 
one who strikes out from the beaten path by 
himself. The shrug of doubt, the sneer of 
the self-sufficient, the wisdom that is too wise 
to be taught, or to admit an idea that has not 
passed through the filter of its own individual 
capacity, these, and many such flints, served 
to elicit sparks from the steel, and stimulate 
me to continued exertion to establish the prin- 
ciples which I knew to be sound and incon- 
trovertible. Feeling this in every fibre of my 
organization, do not wonder if I felt and acted 
the autocrat, when and where the practice was 
concerned. My lessons have been taken from 
the living, moving, talking, human body, not 
from the inanimate form ; and I claim to have 
acquired a fair share of skill in detecting 
disease and infirmity ; to which fact many of 
you can bear testimony. In the study of the 
human body, if you desire proficiency, you 
must be able to detect every fibre that is out 
of harmony, as quickly as the ear of a mu- 
sician can detect a discordant note, 



22 MUNRO&S PHILOSOPHY OF CUBE. 

Case 1. My first patients were six of vario- 
loid, and two of small-pox, one case of which 
was of the confluent type. The first six were 
discharged within the week, one case of 
small-pox in fourteen days, and the last on 
the eighteenth day. The disinfectants used 
were oakum and resin. There were no drugs 
given, but plenty of roast beef, pudding, bread 
and butter, tea and coffee. These two men, 
one by trade a shoemaker, the other a driver 
of an ice-cart, were discharged without a 
single pockmark. When I attended these 
patients I had just escaped from my blindness 
in part. I could not see one feature of their 
faces, and their forms seemed as vague as if 
seen a long way off. I had small-pox when 
at school in Scotland, in the natural way, as 
it was then styled, not having been vaccinated ; 
but came through without being marked, 
thanks to my good nurses, the Rosses of 
Ayrshire, Scotland. They watched and cared 
for me as if I had been a brother. A few 
days' illness, when attending these cases in 
Chelsea, made me conclude that I had taken 



MUNROPS PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 23 

the disease in a milder form, recognizing my 
old enemy of days long gone by. 

Case 2. My next case was a little girl on 
crutches, by the name of E. S. Irish, indeed, 
and no mistake. I was, or was not, as the 
case may be, so fortunate as to relieve her 
of these said two supporters within the first 
hour ; so she appeared with a stick only, the 
crutches being cut up and committed to the 
flames. I treated her a few times more, 
entirely relieving her of her lameness, which 
had been caused two years previous, by sit- 
ting on a damp door-step ; the cold then taken 
contracting the limb so that she was obliged 
to use crutches. When I called, a few 
months after, for some compensation, the 
mother, in her own style, referred me to a 
certain hot quarter, saying that God Almighty 
had cured her child, and me not at all at all. 
There the matter rests since 1856. 

Case 3. About this time I was called to a 
case of acute rheumatism, — a German woman 
who had been confined to her bed for six 
weeks. The house and her clothes were 



24 MUNROES PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 

odorous with drugs with which she had been 
drenched. I commenced her attendance at 
seven o'clock p.m., and before nine o'clock, less 
than two hours, she was in her kitchen pre- 
paring beans for Sunday. 

Case 4. Soon after the case above narrated, 
I was called to attend a Mr. Drummond, who 
worked at putting side-lights into ships, which 
subjected him to severe colds, which termi- 
nated in rheumatism. I found him beside his 
kitchen stove, well heated, sitting with his 
great coat, cap, and heavy boots on, to keep 
himself warm. He was suffering pain in the 
back and arms ; so much so that he had to be 
helped into his clothes. I gave him the usual 
treatment for such affections, occupying an 
hour or a little more, when he expressed him- 
self entirely relieved. He walked down street 
with me and went to work next morning. 

Case 5. My next case worthy of note was 
that of a lady blind of one eye for four years ; 
the other eye nearly blind, or so much af- 
fected as to be of little use for ordinary pur- 
poses. The tears flowed in streams from 



MUNROES PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 25 

both eyes so that she would wet some half 
dozen handkerchiefs a day. The first attend- 
ance restored vision to the blind eye, with 
which she saw the houses on the opposite 
side of the street (Broadway, in Chelsea) ; 
the second attendance stanched the tears 
entirely from overflowing, and the seventh 
attendance restored her to perfect use of her 
eyes in reading or sewing. Now mark the 
case, and follow the example of this patient. 
From the first to the last, she never used, nor 
could be persuaded to use any of the numer- 
ous sovereign remedies for such cases. Had 
she done so, as often advised, I could not 
have treated her case so successfully and in so, 
short a time. This patient was from Fitch- 
burg, introduced by a friend residing in 
Chelsea. 

Case 6. Mr. H., of Truro, Cape Cod, came 
to me with a lameness of the foot, from which 
he had suffered some eight years; telling the 
oft-repeated tale of having consulted men of 
great skill, but who failed to cure his lame- 
ness. His frame had become reduced from 



26 MUNROE'S PHILOSOPHY OF CUBE. 

being a stout one to a mere shadow of its 
former self, and his wallet to a state of col- 
lapse. My fingers tingle to " out " with the 
whole story of this blunder, but I must be 
mute ; for the skilful and well-known man of 
the profession, under w*hose care he was so 
long, has gone to his account. But I must 
not forget to tell the case, as I am about to 
do. In less than one half hour Mr. H. left 
my house, leaving his crutch and carrying his 
cane, without using it for support. On leav- 
ing Chelsea, he went to Lowell, where he 
had a son in a store of some kind. On Sab- 
bath, the day after being with me, he walked 
out two miles from Lowell and back, took 
the train for Boston, Monday morning came 
to Chelsea and told me what I have told you. 
His visit to me was to ask if I thought his 
foot would " stay put." I have not seen him 
since, some twelve years ; but he has sent me 
patients, by whom I have heard of his being 
very well, with no return of the lameness, 
and fleshing up both in body and wallet. 
Case 7. I was asked by a friend to visit a 



MUNROE'S PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 27 

lady, who, he said, was very low, and no 
hopes were entertained of her recovery. Her 
name is well known to many in this city. I 
found in the case complete exhaustion of 
functional action of the system. I treated 
her on this occasion, returned the next day 
and gave a second attendance. When I got 
through, Miss C, the patient, asked me what 
I thought of her case. I asked her to wait 
till I had seen her again. After giving my 
third treatment, I said, " Now, Miss C, I will 
tell you what I think of your case. In three 
weeks from now, you will be able to visit 
your friends down town." This opinion w T as 
fully established by her doing what I had 
told her she could do, within the time named. 
On visiting her former physician, he was 
much pleased to see her looking so well, but 
regretted that one important function of her 
system was dormant, and would remain so 
for the remainder of her life. Within three 
months, she informed him by letter that she 
was all right. This case shows how internal 
organs can be restored to healthy action with- 
out the usual aids for such purpose. 



28 MUNROE'S PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 

Case 8. In the autumn of I860, I had as 
a patient Mr. S. F. Stevens, then of Brent- 
wood, N.H., whose eyes had suffered for 
many years from intolerance of light, brought 
on by an injury received when a lad, by fall- 
ing from a tree, and receiving a severe contu- 
sion on the back between the shoulders. I 
found his system completely used up, from 
excessive treatment of the heroic order. He 
had had, in his early treatment, nitrate of 
silver ip solution put on the full length of the 
spine: he had, also, setons on the neck, and 
subsequently Brodie's liniment was used on 
the spine. (The patients of Dr. A., his 
then attending physician, used to designate 
this liniment as " Dr. A.'s thunder and light- 
ning.") The nerves were one consolidated 
mass of seared flesh, as hard and unyielding 
apparently as a piece of wood, from these 
applications, which were productive of in- 
firmities most damaging to the eyes and 
brain. He had suffered more or less for 
about twenty years before I saw him, and for 
seven years before he became my patient 



MUNROE'S PHILOSOPHY OF CUBE. 29 

had not been able to bear enough light to see 
any thing ; so, to all practical purposes, he 
was blind all that time. He was obliged to 
keep in darkened rooms, from which every 
ray of light was excluded, and wore at times 
a metallic mask, made very skilfully to fit the 
brow, nose, and cheeks. I treated him a few 
times during the autumn of the above-named 
year. But about this time some of his 
friends informed him of a ready means of 
cure, which he tried, but which proved a 
pitiful failure, though tire case was given, in 
one of the journals of this city, by the opera- 
tor, with the consent of the patient, as " a 
miraculous cure," and as such, it stands 
uncontradicted to this day, although this is 
known to the patient, his friends, and myself. 
The " cure " was effected on the evening of 
one day, so that the patient was able to walk 
home alone, and continued to see till some- 
time the next day, about noon. A morning 
journal of that day gave this miraculous cure 
with great eclat, which was all well enough, 
but for what came afterward, when the " cure " 



30 MUNROES PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 

should have been contradicted, in justice to 
me, who had to do the arduous work which 
followed for eight months. About noon of 
that day the inability to bear light returned ; 
so he w T as as badly off as ever, and his 
marvel-worker tried for three weeks to pro- 
duce the former effect, but without avail ; 
and then Mr. Stevens returned to me, when I 
found him in a w T orse condition than w^hen 
he left me, being disheartened, and his eyes 
more painful and less tolerant of light than 
ever. I first got him able to discontinue the 
use of the mask, substituting other shades for 
the eyes ; then so that he could wear gog- 
gles ; and then glasses, at which time, eight 
months of treatment, he was able to at- 
tend to business, in which he has continued 
since, changing his occupation as best suited 
his interest, and having no recurrence of his 
former trouble. This patient gave me the 
names of forty-three physicians and oculists, 
who had either been consulted or employed 
in his case. I have the mask in my office, 
and I call it a trophy of my practice, and con- 



MUNROPS PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 31 

sider this case in importance and interest next 
to the restoration of my own right eye to 
sight. 

. Case 9. At the same time that I attended 
the above patient, I was also attending, at 
the same house, a niece of his, Miss D., who 
from childhood had been delicate and of con- 
stipated habit. When she attained her four- 
teenth year, she had to leave school, her eyes 
having given out. She was allowed to be 
out of doors as much as she pleased, and 
assisted somewhat in the housework of the 
family. When twenty years old, she became 
engaged, and was to have married, but her 
health failed entirely. At this time I was 
called upon to see her professionally. After 
examining her case, and pronouncing upon it, 
I gained her confidence, and that of her par- 
ents, and the immediate friends of the family ; 
which assisted me in the tedious work that 
followed. Her term of treatment lasted three 
years or more, but the practice prevailed, and 
her restoration was the triumph. You will 
see, from the length of time that this case 



32 M UN ROE'S PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 

required, that I have met with some tedious 
ones, demanding much labor, time, and per- 
severance ; but the reward followed, and all 
parties were satisfied. In this case I found 
the system exhausted, every function of the 
body being defective in its action. The work 
I had to perform was to readjust the system, 
and reproduce its functional capacities. The 
lady here alluded to is now the wife of my 
assistant, Dr. Horace J. Robinson, from whom, 
or the lady herself, a more full and detailed 
account may be had. 

Case 10. When I was attending Miss D. 
and her uncle, Mr. Stevens, I was called 
upon by Mr. Morrill, of the same place, to 
visit his daughter Caroline, who had been 
subject to fits for many years. She was taken, 
I think, when in her twenty -third year, and was 
in her twenty-ninth when I attended her, and 
had therefore been subject to these fits for 
six years. I found her system perfectly 
exhausted : she was lame, the length of the 
left side, foot and head included, so that she 
was almost a confirmed cripple. She moved 



MUNROE'8 PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 33 

with difficulty, and was extremely weak, after 
making any effort to speak or move. The 
smell of food cooking, as well as other strong 
odors, would cause nausea. At night, her 
first inclination to sleep would be disturbed 
by a fit, and she would arouse her mother 
by a peculiar moan, which all in the house 
learned to know, from its frequent repeti- 
tion ; there being scarcely a night when 
she did not have one, and generally two, 
three, or four in succession. They rarely, if 
ever, occurred in the day-time. Her father 
said, " Caroline cannot live, therefore the 
doctor cannot make her case worse than it is." 
For six months after I commenced the treat- 
ment of her case, I failed to see the outline of 
a vein ; so completely had her system become 
constringed by continual use of nitrate of 
silver, in the form of pills, and by preparations 
of iron. Before this time, however, the fits 
had decreased in number and frequency; so 
that she would go three or four weeks with- 
out any, and sometimes longer, and then she 
would have, perhaps, two or three following 

3 



84 MUNROPS PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 



one another. I treated her about nine months 
in all, at the end of which time she had 
them only occasionally, being able to go 
out, and being better in every way : so her 
parents thought it best to leave her to the 
care of the good old dame, Nature, to bring 
her through ; which she has done well, as she 
has steadily improved, using no medicine ; 
the fits becoming less and less frequent, so 
that now a fit with her is of very rare 
occurrence, and she enjoys good health. 
All through the years before I attended her, 
she was attended by a physician in Exeter, 
who had made the treatment of fits a specialty, 
having a son similarly afflicted ; and who had 
taken pains to make inquiries of eminent 
physicians, and from every source he could. 
I allude to this merely to show the contrast 
between the two modes of treatment, which 
shows what this could do where the other 
failed. 

Case 11. Mr.- Ephraim Robinson, of Brent- 
wood, a neighbor of the above patients, aged 
sixty-three years, had been confined to the 



MUXROPS PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 35 

house fourteen days, fighting off typhoid 
fever. I gave him my first treatment on a 
Thursday evening. When about to leave 
him for the night, I told him to get up in the 
morning, and eat a hearty breakfast of corned 
beef, stale bread, and coffee, and to spend the 
day between the chair, his bed, and going to 
the door. These instructions he carried out 
faithfully. I treated him again on Friday 
evening, and left him entirely free from fever. 
On Saturday he rode three miles, to visit a 
daughter, with whom he spent a few hours. 
Then came the Sabbath, and on Monday he 
went to his work in the field. This case 
created at the time a great deal of interest, 
as the general opinion was that the practice 
was only adapted to chronic cases. But the 
result here showed quite the contrary. 

Case 12. Miss Colby, aged eight years, 
had been sick of typhoid fever sixteen days. 
A consultation of three physicians was held, 
at which it was decided that she could not 
recover. The parents were informed that 
all that could be done had been done : they 



36 MUNROE'S PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 

were instructed to give the patient a portion 
of laudanum, brandy and water to keep up 
her strength, and a little rice-water was also 
ordered. I was brought to this case, in her 
last extremity, by a Mr. S. We reached the 
house of Mr. Colby about nine o'clock P. M. 
I commenced her treatment at once. During 
its application, I found that the child was 
blind, deaf, and speechless, and that her skin 
had been dry from the first day of her attack. 
In less than one hour she was perspiring 
profusely, and sleeping peacefully, in which 
state she continued four hours and a half. 
When she awoke, her mother gave her, by 
my instructions, stale crackers to eat, and as 
much cold water as she would take. Next 
morning I called to see my patient, and 
found her in her mother's lap, being rocked, 
and picking her lips, and taking hold of her 
teeth, as if they ached. I treated her head, 
restoring her sight, speech, and hearing. On 
my third and last visit I went all over the 
system, which completely restored her to 
health. Observe in how short a time the 



MUNROE'S PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 37 

cure was effected. Saturday night I made 
my first visit, Tuesday morning my last, — 
three days, less seven hours. Under the 
former mode of treatment, she had been tried 
faithfully, and pronounced dying, a hopeless 
case, by professional men of good professional 
standing. Notwithstanding all the disadvan- 
tage the practice was placed under, its work 
was well done in a short time. 

Case 13. I was called from the house of 
Mr. C. on Sabbath morning, after attending 
his little girl, as mentioned in the above 
case, by Mr. W. K., to see his little son 
Arthur, who had been sick a fortnight, they 
said, with typhoid fever. On examining his 
case, I found no typhoid symptoms. I called 
his mother, and inquired what her son had 
been treated for. She replied, " For typhoid 
fever, the same as the little Colby girl : he 
has had the same medicine as she from the 
same physician." I informed her that her 
boy had rheumatic fever, and none other. 
" How has it been with him since he was 
first taken ? " " Constipated through the 



38 MUNRO0S PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 

whole of his sickness, no movement of the 
bowels." An abscess was beginning to form 
over the right pelvic bone. The little fellow 
looked like a sick child. Two ladies came in 
to see what they knew would turn out a 
failure. Miss K. looked on a few minutes 
while I was attending her brother, and then 
left the room to give vent to her feelings, 
which were not expressed in a whisper: 
" Mother, what does that old fool expect 
to accomplish fussing over Arthur in that 
way ? " — all of which I heard quite dis- 
tinctly. Meantime I was preparing an an- 
swer to her question. In less than fifteen 
minutes I asked the ladies to leave the room, 
and then called Miss K.: I told her that her 
immediate attendance was needed, when she 
would find out what " the old fool had been 
fussing over Arthur " for. She was soon 
satisfied that the old man knew something 
of which she was perfectly innocent, I saw 
him well fed before I left, with good bread 
and butter, fruit, and plenty of mill^ to drink. 
I called Monday morning, found him a 



MUNROES PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 39 

changed boy, treated him a few minutes, 
helped him into his clothes, saw him into the 
sitting-room, and told him to play, and 
amuse himself as he- pleased. " Shall I go 
out of doors, sir?" "Certainly, if you feel 
like it." Tuesday I was going to call to 
see Arthur, but the little fellow met me out 
on the highway, and asked if I would give 
him a ride to a neighbor's, about a mile up 
the road. " Of course you shall ride, and 
welcome : I prefer the ride myself, and it 
will do us both good." 

I have given these three cases of fever, 
which required a very short time to master 
the attack, and sweep it from the system so 
entirely that time was not required for 
recuperation, and no after consequences left 
to generate some other attack. 

I shall now give you a few cases of hem- 
orrhage. 

Case 14. An old gentleman, Capt. C, bled 
from the nose for a number of days, which 
made him very weak, and he had to sit on 
his chair all the time, day and night. The 



40 MUNROE'S PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 

usual remedies were used without success. 
I was called in, and treated him in my way ? 
which exactly suited his case, stopping the 
bleeding very soon. In a few days I called 
to inquire how the old gentleman was, and 
received for answer that he was in the barn, 
picking over beans. 

Case 15. A Mrs. B., residing in Exeter, 
N.H., had hemorrhage of the lungs for twelve 
years, suffered much from cold feet and hands, 
and she was also nearly blind. I treated her 
a few times, and had the satisfaction of hear- 
ing from her soon afterwards, and that she had 
full faith in the practice, as she was perfectly 
restored. That she bled from the lungs, 
however, is not a fact, although I was told 
so. Her case had been misapprehended, as 
was shown by her recovery. 

Case 16. Miss P., a young woman about 
twenty years of age, showed symptoms of 
declining health: at times confined to her 
bed, and again rallying, giving promise of 
improvement, when hemorrhage set in, which 
so prostrated her that she could not be 



MUNROPS PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 41 

moved from her bed. She had been in this 
state for six weeks, and had had the very best 
skill that the country afforded, when I was 
called upon to see her. I could not go 
myself, but sent my son, instructing him how 
to apply the treatment in her case. After 
the first attendance, she was taken out of 
bed, and sat up for some time. I saw her 
the next day, and completed the work so 
successfully commenced. She came out of 
her feeble condition at a bound ; the whole 
affair appearing to herself and her parents 
like a very pleasant dream. Her recovery 
was so sudden that they could not realize the 
fact. I saw her a year afterwards, and she 
was then in good health. 

Case 17. Commodore Long, an officer of 
high standing in the American navy, received 
an injury on the knee from a fall from the 
deck of the ship " Merrimac " into the hold. 
He was about to leave on a three years' 
cruise when the accident took place ; but, 
hoping the injury would prove slight, he pro- 
ceeded, with suitable medical skill on board 



42 MUNROES PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 

to take care of him and others. After an 
absence of three years, he returned with a 
stiff leg, which he was advised to have am- 
putated, and an artificial one substituted. I 
was called in, and treated his leg after my 
mode, and in less than half an hour he could 
move it with ease. He was as delighted as 
a boy with the result, and rushed into the 
room where his wife and another lady were 
sitting, to show off to them what he could do 
with it. I had the satisfaction of seeing him 
use it with comfort during the remainder of 
his life. This case is well known in the town 
of Exeter, N.H., where he then resided. 

The cases referred to, in the first five years 
of my practice, are but a very few of the 
many I attended ; but they will suffice to 
show the soundness of the treatment, and 
how soon its effects were realized in such 
cases as were accessible to immediate change; 
while in others, of the chronic and atrophy 
type, by persistence a perfect cure w T as 
effected. In every one of these cases I used 
no drugs, fully and emphatically establishing 



MUNROE'S PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 43 

the fact -that the system possesses its own 
remedy, when scientifically applied. 

I shall now gather up the results of ray 
experience, gained during the first years of 
practical application, of the theory of treating 
disease without medication, and note the 
effect of medication upon the human system, 
as found in the cases presented to me. In 
all the cases I attended, I always found a 
functional derangement of the sensitive nerves, 
inflexible and prostrate, restraining the motor 
action ; imperfect circulation, and conse- 
quently imperfect, distribution, and retained 
secretions. I also made the astounding 
discovery that the muscles move no part of 
the body, or any of its members ; that their 
office or use in the economy of the human 
structure is to give connection or centraliza- 
tion to the nerves, motor and sensitive, at 
those parts of the system where efforts of 
strength are required to be made. Wherever 
the muscles are placed, you find nerves aggre- 
gating over them, as their centres, to give the 
force reauired. This was to me a new reve- 



44 MUNR0&8 PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 

lation, for a contradiction of which I have 
looked in vain for vears, and I am more than 
persuaded that I am right. This I have 
found true : take care of the nervous systems, 
and place thern in their proper relation to 
each other, and you bring into healthy action 
all other parts of the system, internal as well 
as external. Of this fact I am as fully satis- 
fied as I am that I hold in my right hand the 
pen with which I record this statement ; and 
I am also aware that it is a bold undertaking 
to contradict the teachings, for centuries, of the 
eminent men of a profession which they have 
made the study of their lives. Notwithstand- 
ing, I must humbly beg leave to differ. 

In my practice, when called to examine a 
case, I make my diagnosis different from all 
others. A view of the hand tells the whole 
story of the mechanical derangement of the 
patient ; the foot reveals as much as the hand; 
the side-face and back of the head have their 
corroborative evidence ; the shoulders and 
chest have their revelations to make, as also 
have the hips and thighs. The pulse I never 



MUNR0&8 PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 45 

look after, except as a matter of speculation. 
I will explain myself by the following case. 
Mr. J. O., of S., N.H., had an organic affec- 
tion of the heart. Two of his brothers died 
of the same affection, some years previous to 
my seeing him. I tried his pulse at the wrist. 
Its articulation was thus: one, two, three; 
fluttering, whilst I counted seven ; then 
came four successive distinct beats. I then 
treated him about fifteen minutes. By this 
time I had the pulse beating regularly four- 
teen times ; then came, as at first, the ces- 
sation and flutter. The next effort gave 
twenty-two regular full beats. I continued 
the treatment, and by the end of one hour 
his pulse gave thirty-four distinct, strong, full 
beats. From this you will perceive of what 
little moment the observance of the pulse is to 
me. As soon as I commenced to adjust the 
functional derangement that I found in his 
case, the pulse began to take care of itself; 
showing clearly that there was a cause, other 
than the organic affection, producing the 
peculiar action of the pulse, as well as of 



46 MUNROE'S PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 

the heart, from which it was receiving its 
supply. As it was in this case, so have I 
ever found it, as regards circulation. In 
fevers, when the head is suffused, almost, if 
not altogether, congested, I do not touch the 
head. I deplete by treatment, disposing the 
.system to receive the blood at the opposite 
extremity and surface. 

If these facts are not yet sufficient to 
award to the practice its legitimate place, I 
shall proceed to recount my next few years' 
application of it, and the results. 

Case 18. Mrs. S., of S., N.H., had been 
an invalid for many years ; the mother of two 
children. She suffered from prostration, dys- 
pepsia, and its attendants. She was strongly 
disposed to mental aberration. Concerning 
the last feature her husband and friends felt 
much solicitude. I attended her in the usual 
way for such conditions of the system, and 
found that I had a tedious skein to disen- 
tangle. As I proceeded with the treatment, 
she was able to take a slight part, at first, in 
the care of the household. She had her 



MUN ROE'S PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 47 

seasons of discouragement ; still her judgment 
was so fully satisfied with the truth of the 
practice, that she bore her depressed seasons 
patiently, hoping for the good time that was 
coming. She was rewarded at last by the 
good health it brought her. She is now 
doing her own housework, and has added 
one more to the number of her children. 
This lady was in the habit of living in 
the South, Georgia, during the winter 
months, and coming North when the warm 
weather set in. These journeys and changes 
were productive of no permanent benefit to 
her, but rather had a contrary effect, as she 
grew weaker each year ; and they were given 
up, after I began to attend her. This family 
are thorough believers in the practice. 

Case 19. Mr. S. T., of W. E,, N.H., was 
a laboring man, about forty-eight years old ; 
reported a faithful workman, of temperate 
habits. He was a sufferer from Bright's 
disease of the kidneys, and had been treated 
for that, eighteen months previous to my 
seeing him. I found him much emaciated^ 



48 MUNROPS PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 

and bent nearly double. His diet was of 
gruel and broths. He told me he had fearful 
nights, and that the night previous to my 
seeing him he had to get up forty-five times, 
and suffered excessive pain. I found, on ex- 
amining his condition, that over the region 
of the kidneys the skin was puffed out, and 
resembling four pieces of sponge »j5$> placed 
thus. I commenced his treatment about 
eleven A.M. At one, we (for I had invited 
myself to dine with him, on condition that 
he should eat what I did, and, if possible, as 
much) sat down to a good boiled dinner of 
beef, pork, potatoes, cabbage, and turnips, 
mince pie, apple pie, coffee, and bread and 
butter. He ate freely of all these. When 
we left the table, he said: "I shall surely die. 
I have not been able to do so for a whole 
year and a half." I replied : " I suppose you 
know what your neighbors would say, if that 
happened. However, we shall try and save 
you from that fate." I prolonged my treat- 
ment about half an hour. I then went to 
the window, from which I could see his next 



MU NltOnS PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 49 

neighbor's house. I said, " You see that 
house, don't you ? " " Yes, sir, I do." " Well, 
T want you to pay them a visit this after- 
noon." " I can't, — indeed, I can't do such a 
thing." "How do you know you cannot? 
you have not tried : take your stick and go." 
" I shall fall, if I try." " Well, if you fall, get 
up again." "What if I can't get up ? " 
" Crawl ; if you can't crawl, roll over ; get 
there some way, without fail." He went on 
his own feet, spent a pleasant hour, and got 
safe horne again. He passed a comfortable 
night, having to get up only four times. Two 
days after my first visit, I called again, and 
found him comfortable, and about the house; 
not on his lounge, as I found him on my first 
visit. I gave him, in all, five attendances. 
He commenced work by cutting his own fire- 
wood. When the spring ploughing came, he 
drove oxen for the farmers in his neighbor- 
hood. In the summer and autumn I saw 
him on a charcoal-cart, going to H. to dispose 
of the load. It is now nearly ten years since, 
and he is still living. Some may be inclined 



50 MUNBO&S PHILOSOPHY OF CUBE. 

to discredit the foregoing statement. That 
Mr. T. was in the condition I have described 
can be proved by all who knew him ; and 
that his disease was Bright's disease of the 
kidneys is also known to the physicians who 
attended him before I was called in. Here, 
again, you have a severe test of the adapta- 
tion of the practice to a disease that has, and 
does still, baffle the skill of eminent physicians, 
in this and other countries. I do not recount 
this achievement of my practice in a vain- 
glorious spirit, quite the contrary : it is too 
serious a subject to be trifled with. 

Case 20. My next case was that of Mrs. 
P.; the mother of nine children, who had 
falling of the womb, at times, during twenty 
years. About this time it was discovered by 
her family physician that an ovarian tumor 
was forming. Its development was very 
rapid. She was placed under the usual rem- 
edies, to reduce her system, before the process 
of absorption, by externa] applications of 
iodine, was performed. At this juncture my 
service was pressed upon her attention by 



MUNROE'S PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 51 

Mr. T. of the preceding case. When I 
visited her, I found her in bed, weak, with- 
out appetite, and literally drug-sick. But no 
external treatment had yet been attempted. 
I had, therefore, no hindrance from iodine, 
or other astringent, in the treatment which I 
had to give her. On the third visit I made 
her, she got out of bed without help, and sat 
up quite a while. By her sixth attendance 
she was reduced around her waist nine 
inches. She received in all ten visits. It is 
now ten years since, and she is still alive, has 
had no falling of the womb since, and no 
recurrence of the tumor ; notwithstanding 
the trying ordeal she had to pass through, in 
having some of her sons enlist as soldiers in the 
late war, one of whom was killed, leaving his 
widow and children (one a little cripple) to 
try her strength and add to her cares. In 
this case you have an immense tumor, said 
to be as large as a half-bushel ; call it as 
large as a good-sized cocoanut, w r hich is 
much less than its real size, and it would, to 
say the least, appear formidable. I did not 



52 MUNROES PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 



attempt to absorb, but the reverse ; to dis- 
perse the parts composing the tumor, restor- 
ing the form and symmetry of the patient 
to the normal condition; consequently the 
tumor was nowhere to be found. In all such 
affections, avoid external applications of 
every description. The system can be suc- 
cessfully relieved from all such functional 
derangement, and the healthy action of the 
affected parts fully restored. 

Case 21. Mrs. EL, of Nottingham, N.H., 
was a sufferer from womb, and other conse- 
* quent infirmities, for many years ; had had 
much done for her, and like many others 
had taxed the means of the family, in the 
purchase of " sovereign " remedies ; but every 
new effort was doomed to disappointment. 
I was called to her, and found her confined 
to her house, and very frequently to her bed, 
for many days. She was ordered to lie with 
her feet much higher than her head. The 
fears she expressed of the result of a long 
continuance of this posture in bed, I shall 
omit. Suffice it to say that no cure or 



MTJNROES PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 53 

marked benefit was derived therefrom. I 
arrived at the house in the afternoon, and 
remained one night, treating her before and 
after tea, until bed-time. Next morning she 
was at the breakfast-table. When I was 
about to leave, she asked what she was to 
do in my absence. My reply was, " Mrs. 
H., you have been too long in this house, 
and far too often on that bed, in that particu- 
larly uncomfortable posture. Get your horse 
and carriage this very day, and go to your 
sister's " (this was eight miles away). "With 
your feet well down, your head well up, and 
with the good shaking up that you may 
expect to get over your roads, you will be 
the better for it, I know." That was the 
only visit I made Mrs. H., but I met her two 
years after, when she informed me that she 
had been able to keep about ever since I 
attended her, and had been much better in 
every way. 

Case 22. Miss J. W., of D., N.H., twenty- 
two years of age, broke down at eighteen, 
and was for four years trying to recover 



54 MUNRO&S PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 

health. When I first saw her, she was 
brought in a carriage four miles, and had to 
be assisted into the house, and laid on a sofa. 
She was weak, had little appetite for food, 
passed sleepless nights, had much acidity of 
the stomach, and was a regular Grahamite 
in diet. I gave her a long and searching 
attendance, which relieved her so much that 
she stood the homeward ride well, partook 
of a good meal of old-fashioned food after 
her return, and rested well that night. One 
important function in her system had ceased, 
when she was first taken ill, which was quite 
immaterial, in the opinion of her physician, 
and no effort was made to restore it to action. 
This view I did not coincide with, and treated 
for its restoration, which I effected, and with 
it came the tide of health. Here you have 
again a proof of the adaptation of the prac- 
tice to a case that would have baffled all 
other forms of treatment. Hers was a case 
of nervous constriction, congestion, or con- 
traction, whichever of these terms you prefer 
to use. They mean one and the same condi- 



MUNROES PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 55 

« — — — — — — ■ ~~~—~~—~ 

tion of the nervous system ; and when this 
was restored to the normal, or as soon as 
it was assisted in that direction, immediate 
improvement was observable. In recording 
results, in my experience, of the working of 
this mode of cure, the statements will doubt- 
less to many appear overdrawn. To such I 
would say that I do not require any one to 
take my word. If it fails to convince, I can 
refer them to persons who can corroborate 
my statements. The person whose initials 
I have used in the above case is living, and 
can easily be referred to. It is quite natural 
for persons to hold to the tenets of the school 
of medicine from whose practitioners they 
have received treatment. It was so with * 
myself, and to set aside old prejudices I 
found somewhat of a hard task ; but facts are 
very stubborn things : they will intrude them- 
selves until the faulty fabric is borne down. 

The cases I shall now give have been 
attended, since establishing myself where I 
now am, at No. 19 Milford Street. I will 
first give an experience of my own, in rela- 



56 MUNROES PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 

tion to an injury received from being thrown 
from a carriage. 

Case 23. My right shoulder w&s dislocated 
by the fall. I immediately set it, and, grasp- 
ing the right arm, about six inches below the 
shoulder, with the left hand, took the reins in 
my right and drove two miles ; and the use, 
with the treatment applied by myself, effected a 
perfect cure. Please note the difference in this 
mode of dealing with a crippled limb, and that 
in which bandages, or a splint, with the arm 
in a sling, and cloths saturated with laud- 
anum and water, are used. In my mode 
of treatment, the circulation is not impeded 
in its flow, and the judicious use or action 
prevents the stiffness, that so often follows 
from the old method of treatment. 

Case 24. A gentleman came to my rooms 
with a sprained ankle. He brought with 
him a bottle of liniment, having used it on 
a former occasion, for a similar injury. I 
asked him if I might use it as I thought 
best. He replied, " Certainly, use it as you 
please." I called a young man, one of my 



MUNROES PHILOSOPHY OF CURE, 57 

assistants, and told him to draw the cork, 
and take the phial to the street, and rub the 
contents on the first lamp-post he saw; that 
it could do no harm there, while the ankle 
would be much better without it. In the 
treatment of this case, I had the effect of the 
former sprain as well as the recent to 
contend with. Notwithstanding, I had the 
satisfaction of seeing my patient walk from 
the rooms, relieved in less than an hour's 
time. He came again next morning, using 
both feet freely. That person lives at a dis- 
tance from Boston, — in San Francisco ; but 
he learned enough of my mode of treatment 
to be able to relieve himself of many of the 
pains incident to persons approaching the 
meridian of life. 

Case 25. Mrs. B. called on me to know if 
any thing could be done for her tear-passage, 
or duct, which had been closed for a number 
of years, affecting the nostril on that side of 
the face. She had tried the usual mode of 
treatment for such affections, but without 
beneficial results. Soon after commencing 



58 MUNROE'S PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 

the treatment, she said : " Doctor, this will 
cure me : I have needed this, instead of 
what has heretofore been done. This bears 
its evidence, as you proceed." She was 
cured of that, and other infirmities, which 
enabled her to perform some noble work. 

Case 26. Miss R., about ten years of age, 
was brought to me by her mother for treat- 
ment. I found the child much emaciated, 
with slow fever, no appetite, flushed hectic 
cheeks, eyes glassy but wide open. A few 
attendances restored her completely. I have 
seen her a few times since ; the last time 
only a few months ago, when she looked 
the picture of health. 

Case 27. W. H., a boy of nine years, was 
rickety, diminutive in size, almost dwarfish in 
form, with a large head, short legs, and sub- 
ject to chills alternate days. The boy re- 
ceived what I term general treatment, which 
means being treated all over from head to 
foot. When I commenced with him, he 
measured thirty-six inches in height. In one 
year he had gained in height six and one-half 



MUNROE'S PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 59 

inches, making him forty-two and one-half 
inches tall. He was fully relieved from chills, 
and his general health improved so that he 
attended a public school and played in the 
street with the other boys. His second year's 
attendance confirmed his general health, and 
he increased steadily in stature. During my 
attendance on him, he had scarlet fever. 
When I visited him, I found him quite sick, 
as he generally was when at all so. I treated 
him in the ordinary way of applying the prac- 
tice. In the course of the attendance, the 
fever was subdued ; and the system so much 
freed from it, and its effects, that when I got 
through, I gave him permission to put on his 
overcoat and overshoes (it being winter) and 
play in the passage. He was restrained from 
going out of doors for one day only. His 
brother had the fever at the same time, and 
was being treated homoeopathically ; but when 
Mrs. H., their mother, saw how soon Willie 
was cured, Master Frankie was placed under 
treatment also, and his recovery was equally 
rapid. Mrs. H. also received treatment for 



60 MUNRO&S PHILOSOPHY OF CURE, 

bronchial and chest difficulties, from which 
she was relieved, and her general health much 
improved. In applying the practice the pri- 
mary work to be done is to release the nerves 
from contact induced by functional derange- 
ment. The circulation is thus allowed to flow 
to parts in which it had been received imper- 
fectly, and in limited quantity. A large pro- 
portion of persons who are said to have died 
of heart-disease, or congestion of that organ, 
have been carried off the stage of life by ner- 
vous constriction, forcing the heart into dim- 
inished space, thereby depriving it of ability to 
perform its functions. Softening of the brain, 
so called, is the result of a similar condition 
of the nervous systems Both of these 
conditions can be anticipated, if taken in 
time. The following case is proof for the" 
assertion : 

Case 28. Mr. L. G. P., of Peoria, 111., 
a lawyer of eminence, having a large practice, 
broke down, and gave up his profession. 
He sought relief in rest, and change of 
scene and climate. He came under my care 



MUNROES PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. Gl 

on the 30th of June, 1869. He received two 
attendances on that day, two July 1st, two 
July 2d, and one' July 3d, making, in all, 
seven visits ; which so restored him that he 
left for home, and entered extensively into 
manufacturing business, in which he is still 
engaged. About a year after, he had a few 
visits, for a lame back, from which he was 
fully relieved. During the year 1871, in con- 
sequence of the death of a partner, and the 
illness of a president of one of their banks, 
w T hose duties he performed during his absence, 
his health gave way, and he came back for 
further treatment. He received his first treat- 
ment on the 6th of July, 1871, and left for 
home on the 16th of the same month, quite 
restored. Now this is the way our active 
business men may be saved from the effects 
of over-application. . 

Case 29. Mr. J. F. W., of New York, a 
prominent barrister, quite used up, and not 
expecting ever to conduct another case, bade 
good-by to the bench and his legal friends, 
supposing his orofessional career at an end. 



62 MONROE'S PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 

He came to me on the 30th of August, 1869, 
and had six attendances, since which he 
has been actively employed in his profession. 
Here you have two parallel cases : both, good 
men restored to usefulness. 

In all treatment of the eye, I use no appli- 
cations whatever, and would recommend to 
all, who may be suffering from affections of 
that organ, to avoid all cooling lotions, such 
as Goulard's water, sulphate of zinc, nitrate 
of silver, camphor, &c. Indeed, all prepara- 
tions having an astringent effect are decidedly 
improper. Warm or cold water, as the case 
may require, taken into the mouth and re- 
tained a few moments and then rejected, and 
a fresh supply taken, and this continued for 
some time, will afford more relief, and do no 
harm ; which the others would, even if they 
did relieve. More eyes are injured by drench- 
ing them with remedies, so called, in the over- 
anxiety to be relieved at once, than by the 
use of simple means, and a little patient wait- 
ing for the system to adjust itself, after some 
over-tax or exposure. The eye is too pre- 



MUNROVS PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 63 

cious to be tampered with or harshly treated. 
Look at the various washes, salves, and scari- 
fications resorted to, to force it into healthy- 
use; all of which, after long and faithful trial, 
have failed to produce the desired result. As 
it is with the eye, so it is with the treatment 
of the ear. That treatment should be to 
restore, and relieve the organ from the strait 
into which it has been brought, when deafness 
is indicating its presence ; and so with all 
parts of the system. The first symptoms 
should be attended to, for in so doing much 
suffering, time, and money will be saved. 

Case 30. In treating Mrs. R., of N., for 
cataract of the left eye, and intolerance of 
use of the right, she told me that she had 
been deaf in the left ear for nineteen years ; 
that the tympanum was perforated, and there 
was no hope. This she firmly believed, but 
I had my doubts. I treated the ear for a 
short time, say ten minutes ; I then asked 
her to muffle the hearing ear, so as to ex- 
clude all sound, which she did. I then had 
the door-bell rung, which she heard, but could 



64 MUNRO&S PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 

not be persuaded that it was possible. I tried 
again by having a person speak to her. She 
heard what was said, but still doubted the 
fact, alleging that she must have heard 
through her nose. Her faith in the opinions 
that had consigned her to life-long deafness 
was so complete, that to contravene them 
Was too much for her credulity to receive at 
once ; but she did get over her doubts by 
having the hearing of that ear permanently 
restored. Let this case be a guide to others, 
and a warning not to accept all opinions as 
infallible. When the system is in a tolerably 
healthy condition, much may be done in the 
way of restoration. 

Case 31. Mr. Augustus Hurlburt, of Lee, 
Mass., aged seventy years, with general health 
good, came under treatment for cataracts of 
the eyes and deafness. In the morning he 
could read his newspaper ten or fifteen min- 
utes, when the page would blur over, and he 
would have to desist for the day. His hear- 
ing had been affected for six years; so much 
so, that he had not heard a sermon distinctly 



MUNROE'S PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 65 

during that length of time. He had three 
periods of attendance, of about two weeks 
each, with an intermission of two months 
between them. After his second course, he 
began to use his eyes^ and also to hear more 
freely. After receiving the third course of 
treatment, he could read by lamplight, three 
or four hours, with comfort ; and he still con- 
tinues to enjoy the privilege of reading, and 
hears almost as well as any one. 

Case 32. Mrs. Hon. J. D., of Worcester, 
Mass., a lady advanced in years, having been 
informed, to her great surprise, by a cele- 
brated oculist of Boston, that she had cata- 
racts on both eyes, came to me for treatment 
on the 6th of June, 1867. Having had near- 
sighted vision, she had supposed that her eye- 
sight would improve as she grew older ; but 
such not proving the case, and her eyesight 
rapidly failing, she applied to the aforesaid 
oculist, who gave his opinion that she had 
cataracts forming, and that they would prob- 
ably terminate in blindness in a few months, 
and then be ready for an operation. She 

5 



66 MUNROES PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 

became very nervous, and much depressed in 
spirits, from the dreaded results of an opera- 
tion, if a failure, as had been the. case with 
a neighbor, the operation on whom had re- 
sulted in blindness. I first endeavored to get 
the cataracts off her mind, which I found 
more difficult to treat than those of the eyes. 
She gained courage from the results of a few 
treatments; so, that, with few exceptions, her 
visits were like gleams of sunshine to me, as 
well as to herself. The cataracts of her eyes 
gave way, after two months' treatment. In 
August she wrote letters to her family, read 
all the Book of Hebrews in one day ; also a 
biographical narrative of an early friend. 
Soon after this, came many calls on her re- 
stored vision, such as the mother of a large 
family can fully understand. During the 
autumn and winter she had occasional treat- 
ment only, her eyes becoming fully restored 
to vision and use. Her daughter told me 
afterwards, not more than a year or two ago, 
that she had better eyes than any of her 
daughters, could embroider in the evening, 



MUNROE'S PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 67 

and make what is usually considered trying 
use of them. 

When she first came to me, she had a can- 
cer on the arm, which was summarily dis- 
posed of in a very simple way. This said 
cancer was to have had the skill of an eminent 
surgeon. I told her that it was neither more 
nor less than a great seed-wart. It was on 
the arm, between the elbow and wrist joints. 
I treated it a short time, diminishing it in size, 
and then tied a woollen thread around it, 
drawing it as tight as she could bear; in- 
structing her to treat it in the same way, 
drawing the thread closer and closer until it 
disappeared, which it did, without giving much 
pain, and leaving no mark or trace. This 
lady has sent me many patients. We have 
here a case of cataract successfully removed 
without instruments, anticipating the consum- 
mation of blindness, before the usual opera- 
tion could with safety be performed ; which 
goes to prove the fact that such affections of 
the eyes can be, and have been, repeatedly 
treated with complete satisfaction to both 



68 M UN ROE' 8 PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 

patient and operator, all opinions to the con- 
trary notwithstanding. 

The few cases I have narrated will show 
the adaptability of the practice to all forms 
of disease ; which, if taken in time, a safe and 
sure cure will be effected, and very often 
when all other means have failed, and other 
practices have given the patient up. 

Case 33. Captain Davis, of Portland, came 
under treatment in the autumn of 1869. He 
had been attended in Portland by his family 
physician, who, finding that he was not. re- 
ceiving benefit from his treatment of the case, 
recommended him to consult an eminent Bos- 
ton physician and surgeon. He immediately 
acted on this advice, and consulted the one 
named by his physician. He was told that 
he had softening of the brain, that he must 
observe a strict diet, see no company, and 
keep very quiet ; and that he might, if careful 
in the observance of this advice, in three 
years' time "pull through." After all these 
stunning announcements, and the regimen 
thus proposed, he came, on the same day, to 



MUNRQ&S PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 69 

my rooms, with a friend, and gave me the 
foregoing statement of his case. I examined 
his condition, and found that he had rheu- 
matic fever. I gave him treatment, and told 
him when leaving that I wished him to stay- 
in town two weeks, and to come every day 
for treatment. I also told him to eat heartily 
of the food he preferred, to go out and visit 
his friends, to sing, "Oh be joyful!" and 
when he met a friend, and shook hands, to let 
him feel that he was still a live man. The 
first attendance I gave him satisfied him that 
I understood his case, and each succeeding 
visit confirmed the soundness of my opinion. 
At the end of the two weeks, he returned to 
his home, to remain two or three weeks. He 
had improved so much by this time that he 
wanted to show himself. He came back to 
Boston, and remained about fourteen days, 
receiving treatment alternate days. At the 
expiration of the whole time, from first to last 
about seven weeks, he had increased in weight 
twenty-nine pounds, and looked and was 
every inch a man, and a true-hearted son of 



70 MUNBOE'S PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. . 

Neptune. Before returning home, he called 
on the physician he had consulted, to let him 
see how he had improved, and how completely 
he had mistaken his case ; but he could not 
get him to bestow a moment for any such pur- 
pose. He said that he had a lecture to deliver 
to a class, and that it was not half written ; 
therefore he really must be excused. Let us 
pause and look at this case. It is one that 
deeply interests us all. Captain D. had been 
an acceptable and successful ship-master for 
years ; from which occupation he retired, with 
impaired constitution, and engaged in mercan- 
tile business for a time. Feeling ill, he called 
in a physician, who pulled him down with 
drugs, in order to build him up again ; but, 
finding that he could not build him up, he 
sent him to Boston to get the best medical 
advice to be obtained on this continent. He 
gets it, and pays ten dollars for the opinion, 
as before given, — an opinion as unsound as 
the treatment which he received in the first 
instance was unsuited to his malady ; and 
yet these men had not one word of congratu- 



MUNROPS PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 71 

lation to offer him, against whom and against 
Nature they had been sinning, and upon 
whom they had been perpetrating such gross 
mal-practice. 

I will now give a few testimonial letters 
which I have received : — 

Dr. W. H. Muxroe : 

Dear Sir, — Feeling that it is but justice 
to you, as well as to suffering humanity, I 
cheerfully bear testimony to the great benefit 
I have received from your method of treating 
diseases. For many years I had suffered 
from a variety of diseases, and when I first 
placed myself under your care I seemed to 
be diseased in every part, and looked upon 
my case as almost hopeless. But after 
receiving your treatments for a time, my 
coagh left me, my lungs healed, my liver 
resumed its healthy action, my dyspepsia 
was cured, and I was able to resume my 
accustomed duties, and to mingle again 
with the world from which I had been so 



72 MUNROPS PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 

long shut out. For twelve years we have 
followed your mode of treatment in our 
family, and during that time my husband 
has been cured of deafness, which threat- 
ened to Jay him aside from his business, and 
I have had severe attacks of spasms ; but 
through your efficient aid was relieved, 
and my health restored, without the use of 
medicine. We have found your treatment 
also beneficial in cases where our children 
have been ill, and I feel it has proved a great 
blessing to us, and would with confidence 
recommend it to others. 

Gratefully yours, A. A. Cole. 

Southbridge, Mass., Feb. 13, 1872. 

West Campton, N.H., Jan. 26, 1872. 
Dr. Munroe : 

Dear Sir, — Being informed that you are 

about to publish a book, descriptive of your 

method of healing the sick, I beg leave to 

offer a testimonial concerning the case of 

our daughter, hoping it may induce some 

one similarly afflicted to turn to your sys- 



MUNROPS PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 73 

tern of practice, believe and live. At birth 
the feet of the child were so badly turned 
that a piece of paper could hardly be forced 
between the great toes and the inside of the 
legs; the right knee-joint was reversed, the 
little foot resting on the shoulder when 
restraint was removed; the joint being so 
completely disjointed, that the lower part of 
the leg could be turned entirely round, the 
heel in the usual place of the toes. Both 
arms at the elbow were shockingly twisted 
and turned, and the wrists and hands so badly 
deformed that the second and third fingers 
were much shorter than the first and fourth. 
The head of the child was large, the neck 
very small, with an inward curvature of the 
upper end of the spine. 

Immediately after her birth she was placed 
for treatment under the care of J. T. Talbot, 
of Boston, who we then supposed was both 
skilful and honest. To turn and straighten 
her feet, he placed them in plaster of Paris. 
While the plaster was in a soft condition, he 
bound tapes about the feet and legs, which 



74 MUNROE'S PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 

caused the plaster, as it hardened, to set 
firmly about the delicate limb, to check circu- 
lation, and to cause adhesion wherever the 
tapes were tied. Daring the entire period of 
the first dentition, the above treatment was 
continued. At length the attractions of a 
summer trip became more desirable to the 
aforesaid J. T. T. ; and, with our crippled 
darling in her sadly aggravated condition in 
my arms, we were bowed out of his office, 
and recommended to the tender mercies of 
another, " who makes such cases a specialty." 
For long our hearts were sad, and we looked 
about for one whose hands should be skilful 
and true, to undo the mischief which we had 
unwittingly paid for, and who might be able 
to alleviate the sufferings of our only child. 

We were told of " Dr. Munroe, who effects 
wonderful cures with his hands, without the 
aid of medicine," — and without the aid of 
plaster and tape ! Never shall I forget the 
day when we carried the child, then just four 
years old, to you; how you removed all the 
artificial appliances about the limbs, and ten- 



MUXROE'S PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 75 

derly sought out the many strictures which 
bound the little body in deformity. Long 
and carefully you examined her, — no word 
from the lips of any one, — our hearts aching 
with anxious longing for your opinion. At 
length, " I think she can be helped," glad- 
dened our ears. At the time you commenced 
treating her, she could not walk a step with- 
out the aid of braces extending to her waist. 
A stricture about the stomach and body pre- 
vented the digestion of food, and her sleep 
had always been fitful and restless. We 
often resorted to homoeopathic medicines to 
allay her distress and nervousness. 

With promptness, skill, and patience you 
treated her; each treatment making a marked 
improvement in her condition, enabling us to 
lay aside artificial support, and discontinue 
the use of medicine. For two years you gave 
her frequent treatments, at the end of which 
time it seemed best for us to change our place 
of residence. The child is now nearly ei«rht 
years old, is growing quite tall, and in health 
compares very favorably with children of her 



76 MUNROES PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 

age, in this mountainous section of New 
Hampshire. Once since we came here she 
was badly poisoned, when I gave her medi- 
cine, because treatment could not be made 
available ; which is the only time she has 
taken medicine since she became your pa- 
tient, four years ago. She is running about, 
playing freely with other children, and gives 
me comparatively little anxiety. With God's 
blessing attending your efforts, and your 
system of practice, we feel that all this has 
been done for our child. Hoping you may 
be enabled to give to the world a work which 
shall make its people wiser and better, and 
at length reap the full reward of Him who 
proveth a benefactor to the human race, I 
remain 

Yours ever sincerely and gratefully, 

Mrs. J. P. Converse. 
To Dr. W. H. Munroe. 

West Winsted, Conn., Dec. 4th, 1871. 
Dr. Munroe: 

My dear Sir, — I want to express to you the 
gratitude which daily, and almost hourly, I feel 



MUNROE'S PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 77 

for the great relief which my eyes have received 
from your treatment. I can read for hours dur- 
ing these long winter evenings, with genuine 
enjoyment. The unused eye slowly but surely 
gains in vision. When I am well, and in 
clear daylight, I can read with that alone, at 
nearly the same range as with the other eye, 
and the type looks natural. Even threading 
a needle can be done without thought, and 
indeed I feel quite young again. I was dis- 
appointed not to see you the last day that I 
was in Boston ; but you were occupied, and 
I waited so long that the darkness made me 
hasten home. I can only tell you of grati- 
tude, and thank God that so wonderful a 
means of cure has been shown to me. The 
long years of pioneer work which you are so 
faithfully laboring in will, I trust, yield you 
an abundant harvest. The knowledge must 
be valued, wherever known. Even the limited 
power which it has given me enables me to 
make my mother more comfortable than she 
has been for many years, and she walks about 
the village with comparative ease. It seems 



78 MUNROES PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 

such a poor return for what I have received, 
to put these few words on paper; but it is all 
that I can do. 

Most truly your friend, 

Mary P. Hinsdale. 

In this letter, which was written a few 
weeks after she went home, entirely without 
solicitation on my part, but which was very 
gratifying to me from its heartfelt expression, 
she speaks of " the unused eye." I wrote to 
her, asking her to explain what she meant by 
the unused eye, and her permission to make 
use of her letters publicly, if I wished ; and I 
soon received the following reply, with the 
accompanying explanation that I desired: — 

West Winsted, Conn., Dec. 20th, 1871. 
Dr. Munroe: 

My dear Friend, — I am delighted to 
be able to express publicly my gratitude 
for what you have done for me. I wish 
I knew more about it myself. I can only 
tell the fact of the want of vision, for I do 
not know what was the trouble with the 



MUNROE'S PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 79 

eye. But they are first-rate eyes now, and 
I thank you, under God, every day for such 

comfort. I am rejoiced that Miss is 

going to try your skill. A Mr. , of our 

village, will probably go to you for his eyes, 
and I shall hope for success, for our medical 
men here are not inclined to have confidence 
in such treatment. I want to shout its bless- 
ings from the house-tops. 

Truly your friend, M. P. Hinsdale. 

In the winter of 1871, I consulted Dr. 
Noyes, of Madison Avenue, New York, 
about one of my eyes, which was of no 
practical use in sewing or reading. I could 
distinguish objects in a room with it very 
indistinctly ; but unless the book were 
brought so near the eye as to be in actual 
contact with the face, not a letter could be dis- 
tinguished ; and even then the type appeared 
unnatural, and the attempt was painful. Dr. 
Noyes told me that I probably never had 
used the eye, and in his opinion never should 
be able to use it ; that he could do nothing 



80 MUNROE' S PHILOSOPHY OF CURE, 

but administer a tonic. In less than a year, 
the other eye failed so perceptibly that, with- 
out confidence in Dr. Munroe, I applied to 
him as a last resort. For six weeks I was 
under his care, receiving three treatments 
each week. Early in the third week the 
change was apparent, and from that time the 
improvement was rapid. Ihave now a good 
pair of eyes, which I use freely, without 
glasses. 

I am glad to render this tribute to the skill 
of Dr. Munroe. 

Mary P. Hinsdale. 
West Winsted, Conn. 

I now propose to speak of that new ele- 
ment, and invaluable addition, so successfully 
introduced by me into my practice within the 
last two years, which I call the Air Treatment, 
and which has, at the same time, not only 
enabled me to economize my own time and 
strength upon which such constant and heavy 
drafts have been made for so long a period, 
but has also triumphantly established the fact 



MUNROPS PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 81 

that the delicate parts of the system can be 
treated successfully by simple and efficient 
means without pain, or risk of injury, and with 
benefit in all cases. 

The Air Treatment is the simple use of 
air, administered upon the principle of u Injec- 
tion to produce Ejection " of the fixed air or 
gases from the system. I have faithfully 
tested this method of cure in a great variety 
of forms of disease, internal and external, an 
account of which I shall now subjoin, thereby 
demonstrating that a safe, rapid, and complete 
method of cure is now being used by me. 
To the proper application of it I have de- 
voted much time and study, and can now not 
only use it with success, but instruct others 
how to do so. Every man or woman can be 
their own physician, except in cases of broken 
bones, or dislocations of a joint, requiring 
other treatment. But all ordinary and some 
extraordinary difficulties can be successfully 
overcome. I shall now proceed to note a few 
of these cases, which show the results of my 
peculiar method of treatment. 



82 MUNR0E>8 PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 



I will commence with my own case first, 
many of the particulars of which you will 
find already recorded in the earlier pages of 
this book. I shall now take up the story of 
my eyes at a period seventeen years later, and 
tell you what I have gained by the use of my 
recent discovery ; giving a few details of my 
own personal experience, as illustrative of its 
prompt and beneficial action. I would first 
remark, generally, that whenever I have suf- 
fered from the disagreeable sensations incident 
to having caught a severe cold, or have been 
attacked by violent colic-pains, the obstinacy 
and violence of the attacks have invariably 
yielded, as if by a charm, to the remedial 
power of this agent. In fact, I have used the 
air treatment almost exclusively for the last 
six months, in my own case, in order to test 
its restorative power, and by its use alone 
have I been enabled to keep at work for 
others all last winter; being employed from 
early morning until nine o'clock P.M., and fre- 
quently until midnight. When I felt fatigued, 
I had recourse to it on retiring, the treatment 



MUNROE'S PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 83 



occupying from ten to fifteen minutes. 1 then 
slept soundly until daylight, and awoke buoy- 
ant and free from the effects of my previous 
day's work. 

On one occasion, having taken a severe 
cold, my head stuffed, and my eyes and nose 
keeping my handkerchief in constant action 
until bed-time, I longed for the hour of retir- 
ing, when I wished to ascertain the effect of 
the treatment upon myself in. this acute stage. 
I had used my adjustment cure frequently 
through the day, which, of course, brought a 
temporary relief. Still my head felt uncom- 
fortable, and my eyes refused their office. 
When I retired, I tried to discover how much 
light my eyes would bear, and found that the 
light of my neighbor's gas, reflected on the 
windows, with the curtains drawn, was more 
than they could endure. Every effort to use 
them would bring a flood of tears. I then 
commenced my treatment, which occupied 
eight minutes by the watch, by which time I 
could easily bear my own light. I then fin- 
ished my treatment, and awoke next morning 



84 MUNROE'S PHILOSOPHY OF CUBE, 

free from cold, with the eyes able to endure 
daylight as well as ever. 

I had at one time during the winter a lame 
toe, and unfortunately struck it against a 
chair; which mishap added greatly to the 
pain I had to endure. On going to bed, I 
took my Ejector, and used it for not more 
than two minutes, when I could push hard 
against the bed with the foot thus afflicted ; 
whereas at first the touch of the bed-clothes 
caused suffering. 

On a previous occasion I had swollen feet 
and legs, with an open sore on the instep, and 
the skin abraded on the inside of the ankle- 
joint. With these difficulties I worked 
along for six weeks, sleeping little at night, 
and very restless generally. I thought I 
would try the air, hoping thus to get some 
sleep, of which I began sorely to feel the 
need. I went into my lower rooms, lay down 
upon a lounge, took the air treatment, and 
had four and a half hours of sweet, refreshing 
sleep. Next night I used the air process 
again with similar result ; but, on uncovering 



MUNROE'S PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 85 

my sore to dress it, I found no proud flesh 
where it had been so recently, and the process 
of healing had fairly begun. I used the 
process twice afterwards, with an interval of 
one day, by which time the sores were en- 
tirely healed. Since that time to the present, 
I have had no further trouble ; although I was 
well aware from what cause that experience 
was derived. I was in the habit of taking 
men weighing from 145 to 200 pounds on my 
lap to treat them, holding them often a half 
hour or more; hence the swollen feet and 
legs. I continue to do so now, at times, but 
can always counteract its effects by the use 
of the air treatment. 

Case 2. Mr. Henry Shoobridge, nineteen 
years old, a native of Staplehurst, Kent, Eng- 
land, came to this city in the spring of 1872, 
and was employed as a night porter at the 
Everett House. His left eye was entirely 
blind, the right nearly so. "When a school- 
boy, his sight was so defective, compared with 
that of other children, as to gain for him the 
reputation of a dunce. Previous to his com- 



86 MUNROE'S PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 

ing to this country, he was treated at the Roy- 
al London Ophthalmic Hospital, Bloomfield 
Street, Moorsfield, E.G., open for the reception 
of indigent patients, daily, between the hours 
of eight and ten. He was a patient at that 
Hospital for one month, during which time 
he was examined frequently by Bowman, 
Wells, Lawson, Critchet, and others, and was 

then discharged incurable, as the following 
copy of his certificate will fully -show : — 

" Being admitted a patient of this Institu- 
tion, under the care of Mr. Bowman and Mr. 
Soelberg Wells, you are requested to attend 
at the Hospital every Tuesday and Friday, 
between the hours of eight and ten o'clock. 
You must keep this paper clean, always 
bring it with you, present it open, and pre- 
serve it carefully when your attendance 
ceases. Date, Sept. 1871. Name, Henry 
Shoobridge. Age, eighteen. Disease, Myo- 
pia and Chronic Dersematta. 

" Discharged, incurable, Oct. 18, 1871." 



MUXROE'S PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 87 

I copy the foregoing as a voucher of the 
truth of the statement of my patient. His left 
eye had been blind since August, 1869, a 
period of nearly three years, and the sight of 
the right eye was so defective as to require 
magnifying glasses. With this aid to vision, 
he was obliged to get down on his knees to see 
any small object on the floor or pavement. 
His general health was also affected : he 
experienced great lassitude, had a fitful appe- 
tite, and a great desire to sleep ; which sleep 
was without refreshment, or the restoring 
effects of its office. His father's trade was 
that of a bricklayer, and Master Henry's 
sight being bad, as he expressed it, he was 
early put to hand-carting bricks and other 
materials. From the pressure of the bar of 
the cart across his chest, and the spreading of 
his feet outward, in order to enable him to 
haul his load up hill, and over other obstacles 
to his progress, he was greatly twisted, and out 
of shape generally. He was round-shoul- 
dered, and had large and misshapen feet. 
Indeed, his appearance was not one to at- 



88 MUNROFS PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 

tract admiration, while to himself the cloud 
was a dark one, and without any silver lining 
however distant. He made his first visit to me 
on the second day of August, 1872. When 
under treatment he lay in my room on the side 
of the bed toward the rear of the buildings on 
Dwight Street. On the side wall of the room 
toward Milford Street hung a steel engrav- 
ing, in a gilt frame, of the Duke of Welling- 
ton. I had not been treating him over fifteen 
minutes when he exclaimed, " I can see that 
gilt frame, Doctor ! I cannot tell what the 
picture is : it looks dark to me." I told him 
to look at the quilt on the bed, and tell me 
the colors, fearing that he might be deluded. 
" It is crimson," he replied. " Why, Doctor, 
I see with my blind eye! What does it 
mean ? I was told I should be blind with 
both my eyes for life ; that the sight of my 
right eye could not last me over one year, 
with the greatest care. After all, am I to 
have my sight again ? " I then said to him 
(and I reiterate that conviction here), " The 
experts who told you so will have to learn 



MUNROPS PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 89 



their iessons over again, or rather forget what 
they have learned, begin anew, and begin 
aright." 

This young man is now progressing to a 
perfect restoration of his vision, and his gen- 
eral health is good. I have set his system 
right again, and he at present looks every 
inch a noble specimen of his race. He likes 
to work, and finds it does not tire him ; is 
sober, frugal, industrious, and honest. Al- 
though so young in years, and so long bowed 
down, he is a credit to his class. I hope by 
August to see him embark for his home. He 
longs to be there again, and speaks of his 
parents with much affection. 

This case has been the work of " my last 
folly," as it has been very carefully and clearly 
insinuated. Many have been cautioned 
against its use, as very dangerous, with the 
addition, " But, oh, don't tell the Doctor so !" 
All the harm and sole retaliation I wish to 
my brothers and sisters in Adam is that they 
may learn to know the manifold blessing this 
newly discovered method of cure brings to 



90 MUNROPS PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 

them. It has to meet its opponents. The 
contest, however, will be " short, sharp, and 
decisive," and with it comes a new era in 
the treatment of disease. 

Case 3. Miss Clara H. Childs, of Newton, 
Mass., has kindly given me permission to add 
her case, which is of great interest to all, inas- 
much as it controverts the received opinions 
in- regard to affections at birth. When three 
days old, it was observed that her left hand 
was much larger than the right. At the age 
of six years she was taken by her parents to 
New York to have the opinion of a skilled 
surgeon and physician whose name stands 
second to none other in the profession. It 
was his emphatic conviction that nothing 
could be done. Since that time until the 
29th October last, no one who saw the hand 
could offer any hope of a cure. On that day 
she received her first treatment from me. At 
that time the thumb was so large that it 
filled a napkin ring, and the fingers also were 
proportionally large. When she went into 
company the deformity was kept out of sight, 



MUNROE'S PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 91 

and it was done in this manner: she was 
obliged to use the right hand in bringing the 
thumb of the left toward the centre of the 
palm, so as to allow her to close the fingers 
over it, for its better concealment. She 
could not move the thumb into this position, 
without the aid of the other hand. Finally 
a handkerchief was thrown over the whole 
hand, and thus it was kept from the sight of 
others, though never hidden or lost from her 
own consciousness. She has now, at this 
writing, received forty visits, dating from 29th 
October to 24th April. She can move her 
thumb and fingers quite as readily as others 
do, and wears a glove on the left hand. But 
what is best of all, it is hereby proved beyond 
cavil that such freaks of Nature can be set 
right, and their mental effects also will 
disappear with the change of functional 
condition. 

The joy that such knowledge and such 
power over disease and deformity yield to 
me is rich compensation for the toil and 
thought bestowed, and the satisfaction is 



92 MUNRO&S PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 

enhanced by the expectation that it will be 
transmitted to coming generations. I have 
used my air treatment uniformly, in the case 
just cited, and its work has been rapid, sure, 
and without pain. Unaided by this method, 
the adjustment treatment might have taken 
years to accomplish what has been done in 
less than four months ; Miss Childs having 
been absent from the 19th of February to the 
14th of April. These dates serve to show the 
rapidity with which this great work of im- 
provement and restoration has been performed. 
I am now engaged in setting the whole sys- 
tem right so that perfect harmony may be 
established throughout. 

I will not dwell longer on this case ; nor 
could I adequately portray to you the feel- 
ings this young lady must have experienced, 
under a trial so sad and protracted ; but 
those who have been, and still are, in the 
fiery furnace of affliction, will understand the 
situation, and to them I leave it to complete 
the picture. 

Since writing the above I have received a 



MUXROE'S PHILOSOPHY OF CURE-. 93 

note from the father of the young lady, of 
which the following is a copy : — 

Newton, Mass., May 2, 1873. 
Dr. Munroe : 

Dear Sir, — I fully concur in the foregoing 
statement concerning my daughter's hand, 
and the wonderful cure that has been effected 
by your treatment. 

I cannot express the gratitude I feel for 
what you have done for her, and most cheer- 
fully add my testimonial as to the value of 
your treatment, and your skill in this cure, 
which, before I called on you, the best medical 
talent in the country was unable to effect. 

Very truly yours, Otis Childs. 

Case 4. Mr. Charles W. White, of Ossi- 
pee, N.H., aged seventeen, came to Boston, 
by the advice of his physician, to have the 
benefit of the skill of the staff of experts at 
the Eye and Ear Infirmary, on Charles Street. 
He presented himself at that Institution 
about the last of August, 1872. An exami- 
nation of his case was made, and the treat- 



94 MUNBOirS PHILOSOPHY OF CUBE. 

ment then proposed was to be as follows : 
An incision was to be made under the right 
eye, for a sore in that region ; the bone 
was then to be scraped, and a tube placed 
in the tear-duct. He came to me for 
treatment on the 12th of September, and 
gave me his history ; which was, that he had 
received treatment by physicians, at or near 
his home, for four or five years, and that 
their impression was that there was a bone- 
sore beneath the eye; that one piece had 
come away from it, some time previously ; and 
therefore that the above mode of treatment 
was the proper one to be pursued at the 
Infirmary. I found on inquiry that the frag- 
ment of bone upon which their opinions were 
based was indurated mucus, held in the tear- 
duct, and cast forth by our good old mother, 
Nature, after her own inimitable style. The 
sore under the eye was caused simply by 
an accumulation of pus. My first treatment 
removed this, and we' saw nothing more of 
it afterwards. He received twelve treatments, 
from September 12th to October 21st, by 



MUNROPS PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 95 

which time he had increased in weight four- 
teen pounds : he slept soundly, and read as 
much as he pleased. All this was accom- 
plished for him, without pain or suffering, by 
my air treatment alone, nothing else being 
resorted to. Here was a youth who had suf- 
fered pain for upwards of four years, and was 
not able to attend school; which was to him 
of great importance, as he proved, by making 
every effort to rise superior to physical pain, 
in order to secure an education. Had this 
proposed Infirmary work been performed, 
he would have gone forth maimed for life, 
the victim of a flimsy piece of patch-work; 
whereas every part was perfectly restored, 
and the eyes rendered capable of performing 
their functions. 

Case 5. Mr. Blake, of Haverhill, Mass., 
aged forty, a barber, came under my treat- 
ment on the 5th of July, 1872, for ulcers on 
both feet and also on the left hand. Some 
fifteen months previous to his coming to me, 
he had a cutaneous affection, which denuded 
his head of hair and his face of whiskers and 



96 MUNROE'S PHILOSOPHY OF CURE, 

mustaches. This disease disappeared how- 
ever in the autumn previous, and the hair and 
whiskers grew out again. But when the 
warm weather set in once more, the disease 
appeared again in his feet and one hand. 
During this whole period he was under treat- 
ment of physicians, some of whom made such 
affections a specialty. To say the least, when 
he presented himself at my rooms, he was in, 
great discomfort, not having a foot to stand 
upon. He came in a carriage, and with the 
help of a stick and the railing he painfully 
dragged himself up the steps into the house. 
I had seen him often before, when he prac- 
tised his trade in Exeter, N.H., but did not 
recognize him until he spoke, and began the 
account of his condition. I then made him 
strip all his bandages from his feet, and re- 
move an ointment of tar. I found the soles 
of the feet, and the sides of the great toe, one 
mass of foul ulcer. He was quickly recom- 
mended to wash his feet, and get rid of all 
the smear that soap and water would remove 
at one time. This accomplished, he was 



MUNROE'S PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 97 

placed under treatment. When he was pre- 
paring for his departure, I gave him a piece of 
silk oil-cloth to spread over the feet, and rubbed 
upon the surface next to them a little almond 
oil. Over this dressing for the feet he drew 
his socks, and then put on his carpet-slippers, 
with fervent expressions of relief, and with 
evident comparative comfort. He took his 
carriage, and started for the Boston & Maine 
Depot. This was on Friday, July the 5th. 
On Tuesday, the 9th, he had a second treat- 
ment, and on Friday, the 12th, a third, — one 
week in all, — by which time the process of 
healing had commenced. He had his fourth 
and last attendance on the 18th, making 
thirteen days in all, of this short course ; at 
which date his feet and hand were perfectly 
healed, and he continues well up to this 
present writing, April 15th, 1873. 

The air treatment in this case had fair play, 
no salve, bandage, or other means being used. 
Here we have a full test of the rapidity with 
which this simple, safe, and cheap remedy 
does its work. Other cases of more interest 
will now be given. 



98 MUNROPS PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 

Case 6. Mrs. A. £L, of Chelsea, came 
under treatment, May 29th, 1871. This lady 
informed me that she had been receiving 
medical treatment for several years, and that 
shortly previous to the above date she had 
been treated by two of our most skilful 
physicians and surgeons for uterine affections, 
and also for a bone-tumor over the right fron- 
tal. She was extremely weak at the time she 
applied to me ; so much so, that I feared the 
exertion made to get to my rooms, through 
the warm summer months, would prove too 
much for her. However, during the month 
of June, she made seven visits, six in July, 
four in August, in September only two, and 
one on the 4th of October, which w r as her 
last; making in all twenty-one visits in five 
months, and during the most trying part of 
the season. Notwithstanding, she improved 
steadily from the first ; and when she had re- 
ceived her eighth treatment, the change was 
quite apparent to all her friends, some of 
whom had been loud in their protestations 
against her coming to me, and had used their 



MUNROE'S PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 99 

utmost persuasions to prevent her doing so. 
This is only one of the frequent proofs, how- 
ever, that our most intimate friends are not 
always the safest counsellors. 

After leaving me, Mrs. H. was able to join 
her husband in New York, where he had 
arrived with his ship, after an absence of 
two years. She also visited several cities 
and returned here shortly after Thanks- 
giving, and told me joyfully of the pleasure 
it had given her friends to see her looking so 
well, and of the many congratulations that 
she had received. 

Here again we have the significant con- 
trast between the five months of my " danger- 
ous methods," and the long eight years of 
previous suffering, and "regular practice," if 
there is any consolation in that epithet. I 
insist that the first treatment this lady re- 
ceived plunged her deeper into disease and 
infirmity, while the last method restored to 
her health and strength. In the first she had 
much of that hope deferred, which maketh the 
heart sicker even than the poor body ; in the 



100 MUNROE'S PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 



last there was strength and comfort, bringing 
with it, at once, the most hopeful anticipa- 
tions, in which she was not disappointed, as 
her wise friends had predicted. Some of 
these same " friends " are known to me, and 
to such I think a word in season would not 
be out of place. Do they realize the folly and 
the danger of their careless and wordy com- 
ments ? Do they realize the vast response 
bility to which they expose themselves, in 
thus dissuading and deterring the sick and 
suffering from receiving this treatment which 
proves itself to be the one most needed ? 
The circumstances were exactly similar in 
young White's case. A certain physician, 
well known in this city, and residing not 
many miles from it, saw this lad when he 
first came under my care. His advice to him 
was to go to the Eye and Ear Infirmary, that 
I had no knowledge of eye disease, and that all 
I cared for was to get his money. The same 
gentleman saw White about a week after he 
gave the above gratuitous professional opin- 
ion, and asked permission to see his eye. 



MUNROES PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 101 

On examination according to his method, 
he exclaimed, " This eye is from seventy-five 
to eighty per cent better than it was when I 
first saw it. I must stop blowing this Doctor 
Munroe." This latter expression may also 
be strictly professional : if so, he is quite at 
liberty to enjoy the use of it, especially as he 
did not inflict any injury upon the young man 
in this particular instance. But I do wish 
to notice the heavy responsibility which this 
physician might have incurred in the matter, 
had young White taken this so oft-repeated 
advice of resorting to the Infirmary. The 
young man would have had to bear the dread- 
ful consequences of such a misstep to the end 
of his mortal career, and the physician would 
have been the means unto that end. In view 
of the notorious fact that these many institu- 
tions for the relief of the afflicted fail conspicu- 
ously to support their vast pretensions, I 
think it would be well for all those persons, 
who so easily and readily consign their breth- 
ren and sisters to the tender mercies of 
these same institutions, if they w T ould re- 



102 MUNROPS PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 

fleet upon the folly and peril of such a 
course, and of the false position in which they 
are daily placing themselves by such persist- 
ent blundering. 

The failure to understand the human sys- 
tem aright, in all its beauty, strength, and 
simplicity, is the cause of so much mistaken 
treatment It is at all times obedient to its 
guardians. When sickness or injury occurs, 
its own remedial agency is the surest and 
safest to use. If so used, infirmity, with all 
its consequences, will be obviated, and immu- 
nity from them be perfectly secured : health, 
our richest earthly inheritance, will then yield 
its own precious fruits. These are not the 
vague assertions of an enthusiast: they are 
facts proven in my own case, and also in the 
case of many others, who were, like myself, 
mere wrecks of humanity, made so by the 
treatment we severally received from the 
elite of our Scientific Medical Schools of 
Practice. The labors of seventeen years have 
demonstrated to myself, and to others, that I 
am right. When I look back over the years 



MUNROES PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 103 

thus passed, and recall to mind the more than 
forty-five thousand treatments I have given 
with my own hands, and the long hours of 
labor devoted to them, I can clearly see that 
the great stimulus that has sustained me 
throughout has been and is the thought that 
I am undoing the evil work of the men thus 
directly instrumental in causing me such 
repeated and persistent efforts to counteract 
the pernicious effects of their accredited 
authority to. mar the beauty and the sym- 
metry of the human form. 

But the day of drugs, for the human or 
animal system, be it in greater or in less 
degree, is passing away, and the opinions and 
methods of the most eminent men in the pro- 
fession are questioned in all the branches of 
application. The surgeon, the physician, the 
oculist, the specialist, all are doubted ; and 
many will rather endure their afflictions than 
endure the uncertainty of the promised help. 
These feelings are patent ; and no man in the 
profession, who has his eyes and ears open, 
can fail* to see and hear and feel the distrust 



104 MUNROE'S PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 

with which his every movement is watched. 
And why should it not be so ? In passing 
through our streets, the maimed, the halt, and 
the blind meet one at every turn of the head. 
These phenomena cannot be the result of 
a sound method of treatment. Professional 
blunder is stamped upon every one of these 
sufferers, and they bear the added burden 
of disappointed hopes. Some may perhaps 
accept the inevitable with apparent patience, 
but with others it is not so, and the doctor 
has their bitterest invectives. He has fairly 
won, richly deserved them ; and when a man 
gets his deserts he must not complain. 

Again and again would I call your atten- 
tion to the fact that this same treatment by 
medication makes the invalid, and creates the 
consequent necessity of resorting to some one 
of the many curative establishments outside of 
the practice, to which he or she must be sent 
eventually, in the hope of recovering from its 
effects. From the infant of a day to the 
aged, this same work of destruction has been 
pursued, from year to year, from century 



MUXROFS PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 105 

to century, and still no true light from this 
source has been revealed. Whenever an arrest 
has been made of the ravages of this destruc- 
tive, hydra-headed tyrant, it has been accom- 
plished by persons outside of the charmed 
circle, and by the public mind taking the alarm, 
and restraining the expert from making his ex- 
periments. If I understand aright the duty 
of a physician, of all physicians, it is to 
bring the patient the release (not relief) 
which the system requires from derange- 
ment, without regard to the source whence 
that derangement originated. The means 
to accomplish that needed end, whether 
derived from the educated or from the un- 
educated, is the question with the sufferer, 
and should be emphatically so with the 
physician. What can it signify to the pa- 
tient to which school of practice the doctor 
belongs ? If he is not cured, his disappoint- 
ment is, or should be, recorded on that doctor's 
diploma, and the men who granted it are also 
arraigned and condemned by him. Still fur- 
ther, his opinion is employed to influence 



106 MUNRO&S PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 

others to think as he has been painfully com- 
pelled to do. This experience I assert to be 
the rule ; the others, the few random suc- 
cesses, the exceptions. 

Case 7. This case is sufficiently explained 
by the letter, of which the following is a copy. 

Norton, May 5, 1873. 

Seven years ago my right eye could scarcely 
distinguish light, and the left one served only 
to protect me from accident as I moved about. 
Every attempt to use them in other ways 
produced headache and nausea. A violent 
blow on each temple (one received in early 
childhood) had made the whole scalp rigid, 
and the free movement of both eyes had 
become impossible. The best oculists could 
do nothing. They told me total blindness 
was inevitable ; only a question of time. 
Under the adjustment cure, natural motion 
has been restored, and the eyeballs play 
freely. I can distinguish the letters on street 
cars ; and my sight in certain directions, and 
at short distances, is much more acute than 



MUNROE" S PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 107 

that of ordinary people. The ejector has 
aided greatly in my recovery ; making the sys- 
tem yield readily to mechanical adjustment, 
and sometimes releasing the organs without 
the aid of any other treatment. Though 
still under the doctors care, I am teaching a 
class in drawing, daily, and one in writing, 
twice a week ; and I take the greatest pleasure 
in commending the doctor, and his practice, 
to all who are suffering from blindness, or the 
dread of it. M. L. Mellus. 

Dr. Munroe : — 

I should like to say much more than this 
in behalf of the Munroe system, but I don't 
know how to do it properly. Please use, 
abuse, or refuse the above as you please. 

Truly your friend, A. E. C. 

Case 8. Mrs. Charles P. Whiting came 
from Washington, D.C., to receive my treat- 
ment for suppressed menstruation, which 
occurred in August, 1871, whilst under treat- 
ment for typhoid fever, and, subsequently, 
chills and fever. She had her first attendance 



108 MUNROES PHILOSOPHY OF CUKE. 

on the 12th December of the same year, the 
next on the 15th, and the third on t'he 18th of 
the month, at which time the desired change 
was produced. She proposed returning home 
forthwith, but I told her she must have one 
or two more attendances, as I was not quite 
satisfied yet that all was right. She con- 
sented to remain ; and, on 12th January, 1872, 
received her fourth treatment. Towards the 
evening of that day, a mass as large as a 
goose's egg passed from her, and with as firm 
a coat as that of an egg without the shell. 
Of course this mass was attached to the wall 
of the organ from which it passed. Had it 
not been removed, the consequences, would 
have been serious, if not fatal. This case 
shows plainly the blessing and comfort my 
extraordinary method of treatment brings to 
suffering humanity, in its own simple and 
efficient way. 

Mrs. Whiting at first refused to have my 
air treatment, saying that she wanted my old 
treatment. My reply to her was exactly what 
I have to say to others. I explained to her 



MUNROE'S PHILOSOPHY OF CURE, 109 

that she knew nothing of the old method, as 
she called it, when she first became acquainted 
with me, and was obliged to trust to my dis- 
cretion ; and now, in regard to the new method, 
as she was of course unacquainted with its 
effects or results, she must rely upon the same 
discretion that served her in the first instance. 
When she came afterwards to announce the 
perfect success of the latter, she volunteered 
to give any certificate I might desire. I 
thanked her but declined, feeling that such 
documents are of little use to me or any one 
else. I have to deal with certain conditions 
of the system, and though I have had speedy 
success in certain cases, and with certain 
classes of diseases, . others, though similar, 
might be more difficult of treatment, and the 
cure less rapid. 

At this present writing, May 6th, 1873, I 
still use my old treatment, as Mrs. W. called 
it, as the handmaid of the new. The action 
in the last development is the same, but the 
work is done more thoroughly and efficiently. 
The practice, therefore, is still the same, though 



110 M UN ROE' 8 PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 

somewhat differently applied. It is still the 
" Munroe Philosophy of Cure," and only ap- 
plied by myself, or under my direction. 

Case 9. Rev. Wm. R. Alger came under 
treatment the 25th of May, 1872, and had two 
treatments during that month. In the follow- 
ing June I gave him six attendances : one in 
July, two in August, three in October, two in 
November, one in December, one in February, 
1873, three in March, one in April, and one in 
May ; making in all just twenty-three visits 
in a year from the time of commencing. 
This case has been one of peculiar interest to 
me from the fact that the gentleman had just 
passed from the hands of skilled men, and I 
had therefore hoped to get some definite 
expression, either as made to him, or as ap- 
plied to the treatment pursued in his case, 
which would be explanatory of the condition 
he was then in. But I was blankly disap- 
pointed in that expectation, and proceeded to 
make my own investigation, without any scien- 
tific light on the subject. On examination, 
I found the system physically demoralized ; 



MUNROE'S PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. Ill 

entire functional derangement throughout; 
the head and chest in an abnormal condition, 
and the neck and throat worse even, if possi- 
ble, than any other part. Mr, Alger had, in 
addition to his medical treatment, had recourse 
to the exercises of the gymnasium, the Delr 
sarte method, the Lifting Cure, etc. ; and all 
to no special purpose in effecting the constitu- 
tional change he needed. I commenced the 
work of readjustment, and the first treatment 
told him the story of the recuperative force 
that lies in the body itself. This gentleman 
realizes from whence help came to him in his 
sorest time of need, and acknowledges it with 
expressions of gratitude. At this writing, 
May, 1873, a little less than a year from the 
time of commencing, and with only twenty- 
three visits during that time, as the dates 
above given show, he stands forth renewed in 
strength of body and mind, and restored to 
usefulness. 

In applying my treatment to this gentle- 
man, I found that I had to contend stoutly 
with some of the hard effects of his exercises ; 



112 MUNROPB PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 

for, undoubtedly, he had been thereby aggra- 
vating functional derangement, as is the ten- 
dency of such exercises when taken under 
such conditions of the system. Mr. A.'s case 
was in this respect similar to Mr. Dennison's, 
which I shall cite by way of further illustra- 
tion. The latter gentleman succeeded in 
increasing his lifting power from two hun- 
dred and fifty, to six hundred and upwards ; 
but when, after reaching such an enviable 
climax, he attempted to walk, or even to 
stand for a few moments, the effort was too 
much for him, and he found that he was 
obliged to recline the greater portion of his 
time. Had Mr. D. received such exercise, 
properly directed, he would doubtless have 
gained in general strength for all practical 
purposes; instead of which, he gained in one 
capacity at the sacrifice of all others. 

I subjoin a copy of Mr. Alger's statement. 

Boston, May 6, 1873. 
I have received so much benefit from the 
treatment practised by Dr. Munroe, and have 
such faith in its value, that I deem it a duty 



MUN ROE'S PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 113 

to bear testimony in its behalf. Were the 
system universally understood, it would, in 
my belief, be of more use than all other 
methods, and would, in fact, go far to super- 
sede all others ; for when the body is properly 
understood, it has in itself, or at its command, 
all the forces needful to health and equilib- 
rium, provided there be a free circulating 
action for those forces, unimpeded by matted 
tissues, chronic contractions, or other obstruc- 
tions. 

Wm. R. Alger. 

Case 10. Mr. Dan. W. Smith, about 
twenty years of age, a student of Mr. Tit- 
comb's School of Art, No. 460 Washington 
Street, received his first treatment from me, 
the 6th February, 1873 ; at which time, 
after examination, I found spinal curvature. 
The head was drawn towards the left shoul- 
der, with functional derangement of the ner- 
vous system ; the patient suffering at times, as 
he told me, much pain. He had generally, 
also, cold feet and hands, and his countenance 

8 



114 MUNROES PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 

showed plainly the presence of great physical 
discomfort. Mr. Smith has improved some- 
what during a course of twenty-four atten- 
dances, reaching to this date, May 2, 1873. 
He begins now to show to others, and to 
realize for himself, a steady improvement; 
each treatment telling that the work of resto- 
ration is progressing. I have permission to 
use his name, and to invite the attention of 
others to watch his gratifying progress. 

Case 11. In one of the most beautiful 
cities of New England resides a family of 
wealth and social position. A member of 
this family showed in early childhood the 
presence of a spinal affection, which culmi- 
nated in Pott's disease ; sadly marring, as all 
too well know, the beauty and symmetry of 
the human form. I was applied to, early in 
July last, to examine the case, and offer any 
help that could be afforded. An entire change 
of form was at length produced ; and the 
effects of that change upon the whole system 
are now being enjoyed to the fullest extent by 
my patient, who has been restored so far as 



MUNROVS PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. * 115 



to feel that the blight of life has passed away, 
and that the pleasures of the present ran be 
participated in with genuine satisfaction. 
That which was a task, and performed solely 
from a sense of duty, is now transformed into 
genuine hearty exercise, accompanied with 
strength of body, and will to discharge obliga- 
tion. I am not at liberty to disclose the name 
of my patient in this case ; but that is a mat- 
ter of comparative unimportance. That there 
was mental suffering and bodily pain is the 
fact; and that these were both removed, that 
is the important question to those similarly 
affected. And also the inquiry, Can this and 
all other forms of nervous derangement be 
arrested ? is of vital interest to the suffering. 
To both of these questions I make answer, 
that it can be done. It can easily be done in 
the first stages of the difficulty ; but when 
many fruitless efforts have been made, and, in 
the lapse of time, the deformity has been con- 
stitutionally established, while, also, the many 
accustomed seals and tokens of restraint have 
been placed around and upon the victim, it 



116 MUNROE'S PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 

will take many treatments and much patience 
to reverse the sad disorder. 

The suffering attending all forms of nervous 
functional derangement can and should be 
removed when first discovered ; and it will be 
clearly shown then that the spine was not the 
cause of the trouble, but that it yielded to 
the effect of nervous action. I have invari- 
ably found the spine come right when the 
nervous derangement was overcome, and a 
normal condition of the system re-established ; 
as witness the case of Miss Converse, and 
many others, who have received treatment 
from me, as a last resource. I always desire 
the advantage of having the first management 
of a case ; but notwithstanding the profes- 
sional obstructions placed in the way of my 
practice, its soundness is more fully estab- 
lished than ever. My labor, however, is 
decidedly augmented by the various mechan- 
ical aids, and the prescriptions, all so well 
calculated to perpetuate the physical derange- 
ment of the patient. Every slight injury is 
magnified into something terrible ; the injured 



MUNROFS PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 117 

part must be nursed very tenderly, and be 
drugged and drenched, to make it still more 
insensible, or more sensitive, as the case may 
be : whereas, if the proper treatment had been 
resorted to at first, the term of suffering or 
restraint might have been wholly dispensed 
with. 

Case 12. By way of further illustration 
of my practice, I shall now quote the case of 
Rev. P. C. Headley, the author of the " His- 
tory of the Empress Josephine." This gentle- 
man came to me with a pustule on his head. 
It was in the centre, among the forelocks, 
some of. which had been cut away, It had 
been very painful, depriving him of sleep for 
two consecutive nights. I used my new 
method of treatment, and had, while busy, to 
answer his questions as to what I intended to 
accomplish by the means employed. A few 
minutes sufficed to convince him that the 
means would bring the needed end ; namely, 
a cure for his affected cuticle, or Job's com- 
forter, so styled. Whether the patriarch suf- 
fered from this disease or not is questioned ; 



118 MUNROE'S PITILOSOPIIY OF CUBE. 

but that he suffered somehow and was finally 
cured, is more to the purpose ; with the dif- 
ference, however, that Job was considered as 
directly in the hands of his Creator, while 
Mr. H. was in the hands of one of God's fee- 
ble instruments, by whom he is pleased to 
work. When I was through with my treat- 
ment, I told Mr. Headly that he must leave 
off all plasters. I saw the gentlemen at his 
office, three days after this attendance ; and 
found the pustule entirely gone, and the skin 
perfectly healed. In the autumn of the same 
year, Mr. H. came again. He was much dis- 
commoded on this occasion by a lame arm, 
which was the effect of a fall, when at the 
White Mountains looking for mosses. His 
foot slipped, and threw him on a rough rock, 
inflicting a severe contusion on the side of 
the arm, between the elbow and shoulder. 
On reaching the hotel, he had recourse to the 
" Pain-killer," which gave him relief for a few 
days; but afterwards the parts contracted so 
much that in the effort of putting on his coat 
he would experience much pain. While I 



MUNROE'S PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 119 

was attending him, he inquired why I objected 
to the use of liniments. I "replied : " Simply 
because they do not answer your require- 
ment, which is, release from the condition 
induced at the time of receiving your injury. 
The moment you had the fall, the nerves be- 
came functionally changed, and passed into a 
chronic state of derangement ; and your lini- 
ment fastened them in that changed condition, 
so as to render it impossible for Nature, un- 
aided by mechanical reversion, to recover the 
harmony thus violently destroyed. Now, sir, 
you will see what I mean, by putting on your 
coat; for you will discover that I have all the 
parts set right again." He most cheerfully 
accepted my suggestion, and put on the coat 
with ease. " This is beautiful! " he exclaimed. 
"I now understand thoroughly the distinction 
between relief and release. But can this be 
done at first, while suffering acute pain ? " 
" Certainly," I replied ; " that is just the proper 
time, and would have saved you all this pain- 
iul after-experience." And thus it is with all 
forms of derangement of the system, \\ hat- 



12a MUNRO&S PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 

ever may be the inducing cause. Set it right 
at once, and disease will have no lodgement. 
Fevers of all types can be quickly ejected 
from the system. The modern disease of 
cerebro-spinal-meningitis can be as speedily 
disposed of. Diphtheria and bronchial affec- 
tions are especially of short duration when 
treated after my method. Also, all visceral 
affections are peculiarly restored to healthy 
action, and in so quiet and pleasant a man- 
ner that the patient is not always conscious 
of the good work which is being done. 

To stand by and see a fellow-being, some- 
times unconsciously, borne down to a painful 
death, and offer no substantial aid, is not 
the position the attendant physician should 
occupy. He should know, at least, the condi- 
tion his patient is in, under any form of 
disease ; and, by using the means of relief the 
human system is provided with, release at 
once the parts that are specially taxed. The 
patient can be afforded such aid as will 
induce reaction of the nerves congested, and 
thus a sure triumph be gained over the 



MUNRO&S PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 121 

great scourge of the race. If defeat should 
result, and the patient pass away, all that 
could be done has been done, and no mis- 
givings of duty unfulfilled or misapprehension 
will remain. 

The "Philadelphia Medical Times/' of 
May 10th, 1873, has the following article by 
C. H. Burnett, M.D., Aural Surgeon to the 
Philadelphia Dispensary: — 

" On the last day of July, 1872, Christian L., 
fifteen years old, a German, presented him- 
self for treatment at the Philadelphia Dispen- 
sary. His complaint was, that, since infancy, 
he has had a discharge from the right ear, 
with progressive hardness of hearing. He says 
that there has never been any discharge from 
the left ear. All of which statements were cor- 
roborated by his father, who accompanied him. 
My examination revealed the presence of a 
copious light-green discharge in the meatus. 
"When this was removed, I discovered a large 
perforation in the postero-superior quadrant of 
the membrana tympani. Hearing distance 



122 MUNROE'S PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 

for the watch, \ of the norme. Eustachian 
tube pervious to the current of air from Polit- 
zer's apparatus. After cleansing the meatus 
thoroughly, I introduced ten drops of a 
strong solution of nitrate of silver, (j3-f §j), 
and ordered him to syringe the ear gently three 
times daily, at home ; and, after each syring- 
ing, to instil into the meatus ten drops of a 
solution of sulphate of zinc (gr. ij-fSj), al- 
lowing them to remain in contact with the 
affected parts five minutes. One week later, 
I saw the boy again ; and ordered a continua- 
tion of the treatment already described, since 
his condition had greatly improved. By the 
middle of August, the discbarge had ceased, 
and the hearing for the watch had increased 
to J of the norme. On the 19th of August, 
the perforation in the membrana tympani 
had closed, and the membrane, which at the 
time of the first examination was swollen 
and discolored, had assumed the normal 
shining appearance. The hearing had be- 
come relatively normal, i. e., the previously 
affected ear had assumed a hearing power 



M UN ROE'S PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 123 

equal to that of the unaffected ear ; but neither 
ear was endowed with sharp hearing power, 
and probably had not been since early child- 
hood. The interesting features of this case 
are, — 

" 1. The length of the duration of the 
disease. 

" 2. The exquisite restitution of the mem- 
brana tympani. 

M 3. The restoration of the hearing. 

" 4. The obvious benefits of the treat- 
ment. 

" 127 South Eighteenth Street." 

Allow me to quote, in connection with the 
above case, two of my own. 

Case 13. Miss A. C, a young lady who 
came to me in April of the present year, 
became suddenly deaf in one ear ; which gave 
her great uneasiness of mind, fearing it would 
be permanent. She received one treatment 
from me, and was fully restored. 

Case 14. Mrs. C, aged sixty, suffered for 
twenty-four years from one of her ears, which, 



124 MUNROE'S PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 

if exposed to cold air, or if she was fatigued, 
would suppurate, causing her great discom- 
fort. She received one treatment in the 
autumn of 1872, since which time she has 
had no discharge from the ear. The interest- 
ing features of these two cases are, — 

1. The length of the duration of the 
disease, in one, and the rapid and entirely 
painless cure of both. 

2. The perfect restoration of the affected 
parts to their normal condition. 

3. The non-use of any application that 
could injure. 

4. The obviously superior benefits of the 
Air treatment. 

19 Milford Street. 

I will insert here the following copy of a 
letter just received from a well known citizen 
of Boston : — 

Having experienced great benefit, within 
the past two years, from the system of treat- 
ment practised by Dr. Munroe, I can cheer- 
fully and confidently recommend it to others, 



MUNROVS PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 125 

as being, in my judgment, the most valuable 

among known remedies for the alleviation and 

cure of diseases to which the human system 

is subject. 

James W. Merriam. 
Boston, May, 1873. 

I must also insert here, in justice to myself 
and in discharge of a duty I owe to my neigh- 
bors, the result of my experience of a case of 
twenty years'- standing, which has completely 
baffled the skill of all who have seen and 
attended the sufferer. The case of Miss Chloe 
Langton, of Winsted, Conn., and the one 
under consideration, are in many features 
similar. Through all those years of suffering, 
the course of the patient to whom I refer has 
been uniformly downward, until at length she 
was unable to rise from her bed, or even to be 
moved in it without excessive pain. I was 
called upon to visit her, and, on viewing her 
condition, and hearing her history, I soon 
realized the terrible facts of the case. I 
explained to her the philosophy of my air 
treatment, and applied it with success ; afford- 



126 MUNROE'S PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 

ing her immediate relief from pain, and very- 
soon enabling her to move more freely in her 
bed ; giving her also the promise of release 
from her trying discipline of so many years. 
A sister of this same lady, suffering from- 
asthma, was also relieved in a few moments 
by the use of the ejector. She said that 
she could once more breathe and speak 
freely. She, too, had been in failing health 
for years, and had exhausted herself in using 
the customary severe remedies incident to a 
long course of the u regular practice." I have 
attended these ladies but a few times, but 
have no doubt of a complete success as the 
final result in their cases. 

But I must hasten to bring this record to a 
conclusion. After a lapse of seventeen, years, 
having, in the course of my professional expe- 
rience during that period, been compelled to 
combat with disease in its chronic form, and 
under the most unpropitious auspices, — dis- 
ease, many of whose victims were members 
of influential families, as well as persons of 
culture and distinction, I have yet to meet 



MUNROES PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 127 

** r . - . , _ » 

the man or woman who could give me a 
satisfactory answer, when asked why and 
wherefore I had found them thus. The 
opinions of their doctors, indeed, were freely 
quoted ; from which I could glean no ray of 
light, but could only discover the veil that had 
shut out from their professional eyes the 
knowledge required to enable the so-called 
experts of the medical profession to treat 
disease successfully. And yet, strange to 
say, these same victims of their vaunted 
skill, were often loud in their laudations. 
Alas, if this be their skill, I, for one, choose 
to remain in ignorance of such knowledge, 
producing such fruits! I can, as I write, call 
up each patient, deformed or maimed or blind 
or decrepit, helpless and without hope, and 
hear the cry of despair : " I have tried so long, 
and endured so much, that I have no confi- 
dence of ever being restored to health." And 
yet the drowning man will catch at a straw, 
and I and my practice have proved to these 
doubting ones a life-preserver in the last 
extremity. Is not this an enviable position to 



128 MUNROE'S PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 

attain ? Have I not reason to exult and be 
grateful for what I have accomplished for 
myself, and am hourly accomplishing, and 
with God's blessing will continue to accom- 
plish, for others? 

In originating and applying this practice, I 
have been careful to make it as easy as pos- 
sible for the suffering patient. To such as 
were in a condition requiring a more decided 
or heroic treatment, the requisite force has 
been applied, in order to bring their systems 
under control; while in ordinary cases it is 
calculated to soothe, restore, and strengthen. 
In no case will the philosophies of the old 
school of practice be found of any use. As 
to diet, upon which so much stress has been 
laid, I would simply say : adjust the system 
properly, and all morbid appetites will be dis- 
posed of, and healthy ones ensue ; all nervous 
affections will disappear, and mental peculi- 
arities growing out of them will disappear 
with them. I speak advisedly of what I 
know, have tried, and proved ; and you can 
corroborate my position. All disease can be, 



MUNROE'S PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 129 

has been, successfully treated by my method, 
without medication. This fact is fully estab- 
lished, and it is now my duty, and yours, to 
spread that knowledge throughout the world. 
In so doing, we must not be half-hearted. 
The greater the benefits that we have re- 
ceived from it, the greater the obligation to 
share them with our fellows, who are still 
struggling in the toils of the prevailing modes 
of treatment, and thereby having their infirmi- 
ties only the more firmly fastened upon them. 
I have spared no pains in instructing you all in 
the knowledge of the practice. Be true and 
faithful to its principles. Use no drugs, no 
artificial supports, to supply — say rather to 
hinder — the natural ones. Be not deluded by 
any false doctrines of probabilities or possi- 
bilities. Avail yourselves of those provisions 
with which a beneficent Creator has fur- 
nished all his children. What folly to turn 
our backs upon the blessings flowing from 
his wisdom, and have recourse to means that 
have proved their inefficiency in the past, and 
will prove it to the bitter end ! While the 

9 



130 MUNROES PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 

wise men are looking for a solution of their 
speculations and experiments, let us be up and 
doing good with " the little light we have,'' 
regardless of their shrugs. Leave them to 
themselves until the time predicted by them 
arrives (a century hence they think it may 
be), when, perhaps, something of the nervous 
system may be known! A specialist, who 
makes this particular portion of the system 
his study, and whose opinions are looked upon 
as authority, has yet failed signally to grasp his 
subject. His writings upon it may read pleas- 
antly and plausibly to the uninitiated ; but to 
those who already have a realizing sense of 
that knowledge, which is merely looked for- 
ward to, in the dim future, by the prophets 
of the school to which he belongs, they, are 
utterly unsatisfactory, and at the same time 
paradoxical ; for, while in one breath we find 
him reasoning as if he actually possessed the 
knowledge in question, in the very next we 
hear his cry for help from his brethren to aid 
him in the search for it. Be not startled or 
discouraged by this statement. I say what I 



MUNROPS PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 131 

think to every man; I speak of what I fully 
understand to all men. I say that all theorists 
are unsafe guides, while they remain in that 
state. When they touch bottom ; when they 
produce and demonstrate a sound, safe, un- 
changeable basis for their practice, — then will 
they establish that confidence which is always, 
sooner or later, accorded to truth. 

A word or two, before concluding, about 
that precious organ, the eye. As the Good 
Book has it, when the eye is single, the whole 
body is full of light. This is, indeed, gos- 
pel truth, not to be controverted by science. 
When the eye becomes functionally deranged, 
it loses its singleness, and its power of vision 
is diminished ; too oft terminating in absolute 
extinction. To recover that vision, how many 
remedies have been resorted to ! how few have 
been attended with even partial success ! 
The eye, the ear, the brain, — all parts of the 
system, — are immediately related to, and 
influenced by the functional condition of the 
sensitive and motor nerves. Subordinate to 
them, they must accept the condition or re- 



132 MUNROE'S PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 

straint forced upon them, by a change from 
the normal to the abnormal state. By such 
change the region of the eye is invaded, and 
then the conflict begins. The eye strives to 
rid itself of this usurping force, which threat- 
ens the harmony of its domain ; and the nerves 
struggle to readjust themselves; but fail 
generally in the effort, because the proper 
auxiliary treatment is not applied. I know 
of no form of torture more exquisite than that 
which is continually inflicted upon the eye of 
the suffering victim by the old school of prac- 
tice : drugging, drenching, leeching, lancing, 
scarifying, pulling out the lashes, imprisoning 
the patient in darkened rooms, burdening them 
with bandages to exclude the light. And 
then the fanciful inventions, with high-sound- 
ing names, that are resorted to, in the vain 
attempt to discover the cause why the eye 
will not be cured, after all this harsh and 
unnatural treatment that it has received ! 
When the eye is viewed through the oph- 
thalmoscope, what revelation is vouchsafed 
to the expert who uses it, that can enlighten 



MUXBO&S PHILOSOPHY OF CURE. 133 

his comprehension of the disease with which 
he is contending ? On the other hand, much 
injury is often inflicted upon the patient, 
by having recourse to this mode of exam- 
ination, and from the use of belladonna, 
for the purpose of dilating the pupil. The 
whole apparatus, indeed, of such inventions 
for discovering the cause of the various de- 
rangements of the system, ingenious as they 
may appear and euphonious as their names 
may be, is little better than a snare and a 
delusion. . A proper understanding of the sys- 
tem itself is the true requisite to enable the 
physician to treat successfully any portion of 
the body, or its members, that requires special 
release from its abnormal condition. I have 
given you proof sufficient in these pages, that 
a sure, painless, pleasant means of effecting 
such release, is provided by my practice. 
Do not, then, allow your eyes to be tampered 
with by specialists. Leave them to them- 
selves. Be not deluded by their instruments 
of torture, nor defrauded by their exorbitant 
exactions. Then will they be compelled to 



134 MUNROES PHILOSOPHY OF CUBE. 

desist from their outrages on their unoffend- 
ing and suffering fellows. 

One word more, dear friends, at parting. 
Far be it from me vainly to assume the man- 
tle of the prophet ! though my heart glows and 
my mind expands within me at the thought 
of the good time coming, when the light of 
true knowledge shall have spread over this 
and other lands ; when the Philosophy of 
Cure, which I now submit to your examina- 
tion, shall have won its precious victories over 
ignorance and selfishness, and its beneficent 
fruits shall have been reaped by suffering 
humanity; when lingering pain, deformity, 
blindness, deafness, and kindred ills w T ill no 
longer confront us at every turn and corner, 
but will be comparatively unseen, unknown, 
and gradually fade away into mere phantoms 
of the past. Rejoice with me. Aid me in 
bringing about a consummation so blessed! 



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